Taphonomic Trajectory of Diagenesis: How Site Formation Should Inform Biological Sampling Strategies for Isotopic Studies of Ancestors

Bone preservation corresponds to patterns in site stratigraphy, therefore geoarchaeological data can be used to inform the sampling strategies, rather than relying on post-processing destructive methods for diagenesis assessment. Sampling strategies should become increasingly reliant on contextual information based on nuanced analyses (i.e., geoarchaeology) of local burial environments to better understand the taphonomic trajectory of bone.