Taphological

At the same time, it must be acknowledged that Mousterian burials are still a poorly studied source from the taphological point of view, i.e. as far as study of the actual burial rites is concerned.[…]The numbers of sites with burials, their dating, natural habitat, and the approximate number of simultaneous burials at each site all point to the existence of certain “centres of taphological activity” for the earliest man.

Taphological processes have preserved remains of bygone biospheres for us to see[…]

A close inspection of the break shows straight portions above the line of the front and back holes, which to me do not look as if they came about naturally. Taphological examination was indecisive on this question (my thanks to R. Abramowitz of the Department of Zoology of the Hebrew University, for examining the piece).

Can archaeology answer all of these questions and address all of these problems? No. However, by employing archaeological methods to various taphological projects, we can gain a much higher level of certainty with respect to such matters.

Common furniture was made from the thinnest japanned iron and has often undergone such taphological change that archaeological examples are virtually indistinguishable other than by broad design, and variations that may be associated with individual makers are seldom observed.