Taphonomy
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Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term taphonomy was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientist Ivan Efremov to describe the study of the transition of remains, parts, or products of organisms from the biosphere to the lithosphere.
An articulated wombat skeleton in Imperial-Diamond cave (Jenolan Caves)
Actualistic taphonomy seeks to understand taphonomic processes through experimentation, such as the burial of bone.
Taphonomic study of the Taung child skull claims they were likely killed by a large bird, indicated by traces of talon cuts.
Although chitin exoskeletons of arthropods such as insects and myriapods (but not trilobites, which are mineralized with calcium carbonate, nor crustaceans, which are often mineralized with calcium phosphate) are subject to decomposition, they often maintain shape during permineralization, especially if they are already somewhat mineralized.
Fossil
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A fossil is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the fossil record.
Permineralized bryozoan from the Devonian of Wisconsin
External mold of a bivalve from the Logan Formation, Lower Carboniferous, Ohio
Silicified (replaced with silica) fossils from the Road Canyon Formation (Middle Permian of Texas)
Recrystallized scleractinian coral (aragonite to calcite) from the Jurassic of southern Israel