Faunal assemblage

In archaeology and paleontology a faunal assemblage is a group of animal fossils found together in a given stratum.[1] In a non-deformed deposition, fossils are organized by stratum following the laws of uniformitarianism[2] and superposition,[3] which state that the natural phenomena observable today (such as death, decay, or post-mortem transport) also apply to the paleontological record and that the oldest stratum will be at the bottom of a paleontological deposit.

The principle of faunal succession is used in biostratigraphy to determine each biostratigraphic unit, or biozone. The biostratigraphic unit is a section of geological strata that is defined on the basis of its characteristic fossil taxa or faunal assemblage. Faunal assemblages are also analyzed in archaeological deposits, where they are influenced by cultural activities in addition to ecological processes and natural taphonomy.

  1. ^ Raup, David M.; Stanley, Steven M. (1978). Principles of paleontology (2. ed.). San Francisco: Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-0022-7.
  2. ^ Romano, Marco (2015). "Reviewing the term uniformitarianism in modern Earth sciences". Earth-Science Reviews. 148: 65–76. Bibcode:2015ESRv..148...65R. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.05.010. ISSN 0012-8252.
  3. ^ Donovan, Stephen K. (2021). "Chapter 6: The Law of Superposition". Hands-on palaeontology: a practical manual. Edinburgh, Scotland ; London: Dunedin. ISBN 978-1-78046-097-0. OCLC 1119471437.