Recording the Preservational Condition of Archaeological Insect Fossils

Abstract

The state of preservation of archaeological fossils may provide information crucial to their interpretation and for making curatorial decisions concerning the buried heritage. An established scheme for recording the condition of archaeological insect remains preserved by anoxic waterlogging is examined and found inadequate, failing to represent the complexity of decay properties and pathways. A particular weakness was its focus on whole assemblages rather than the individual remains of which they were composed. A new scheme is proposed which takes account of the heterogeneity of preservation in single assemblages, and makes use of a wider set of properties including colour changes. Range, mode, mode strength and distribution of values are recorded for the major properties (i.e. erosion or chemical degradation, fragmentation or mechanical damage, and colour changes). A form and accompanying flow sheet designed to ensure systematic recording of these properties under the new scheme are presented, and its success to date considered.