Which statement about bone weathering is NOT true?

• A. They determine exact year of death
• B. They range from 0 to 5
• C. They describe surface weathering
• D. They are used to infer postmortem interval

Answer: (A)

Bone weathering describes surface changes on bone as it’s exposed to environmental conditions over time. A standard way to describe this is a 0 to 5 scale, with early stages showing little to no changes and later stages showing more pronounced features like cracking and flaking. These stages capture how much surface weathering has occurred, not precise biological aging.

Because the rate of weathering varies so much with climate (temperature and humidity), soil chemistry, burial conditions, scavenging, and bone characteristics, you can use the weathering stage to place a bone within a rough timeframe since death, contributing to postmortem interval estimates. But it cannot pin down an exact calendar year of death.

So the statement asserting an exact year can be determined from bone weathering is not true. The other points—the scale ranging from 0 to 5, the focus on surface weathering, and its use to infer postmortem interval—are consistent with how weathering is interpreted in forensic taphonomy.