Pat Shipman sets forth the taphonomic methods of analyzing how animal remains are acted upon and altered, both by biological and by geographic phenomena, in their passage from the biosphere of bones and carcasses into the lithosphere of fossils. She explains the role of disease, predation, accidents, postmortem destruction, and transport in the life history of a fossil, and provides an introduction to the relevant geological concepts and to faunal analysis.
"Intended for advanced undergraduate courses in anthropology, paleontology, and evolutionary biology, as well as professionals in these fields, [the book] will serve as an excellent introduction to taphonomy and paleoecology. It should also reach a much wider audience with less specialized interests in vertebrate evolution, to whom the lessons to be learned from humble, often broken, bones will come as a pleasant surprise."
– Mark Newcomer, Nature