• Preface; 1. What is taphonomy?; 2. The history and structure of taphonomy; 3. Taphonomy in practice and theory; 4. Structure and quantification of vertebrate skeletons; 5. Vertebrate mortality, skeletonization, disarticulation, and scattering; 6. Accumulation and dispersal of vertebrate remains; 7. Frequencies of skeletal parts; 8. Butchering, bone fracturing and bone tools; 9. Other biostratinomic factors; 10. Burial as a taphonomic process; 11. Diagenesis; 12. Taphonomy of fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians; 13. Discussion and conclusions; Glossary.

"...a comprehensive, detailed and accurate book that will make taphonomy accessible to specialists and nonspecialists alike. It is essential reading for all vertebrate palaeontologists, archaeologists and palaeoecologists and provides crucial background information for workers in other disciplines who use fossil material, especially molecular biologists attempting to extract DNA from fossil bone." Nature