Thanatocoenosis

Thanatocoenosis (from Greek language thanatos - death and koinos - common) are all the embedded fossils at a single discovery site.

A site containing thanatocoenosis elements can also lose clarity in its faunal history by more recent intruding factors such as burrowing microfauna or stratigraphic disturbances born from anthropogenic methods.

[3] A death community/thanatocoenosis is developed by multiple taphonomic processes (those being ones relating to the different ways in which organismal remains pass through strata and are decomposed and preserved) that are generally categorized into two groups: biostratinomy and diagenesis.

The study of taphonomy can aid in furthering the understanding of the ecological past of species and their fossil records if used in conjunction with research on death assemblages from modern ecosystems.

[4] The term "thanatocoenosis" was originally created by Erich Wasmund in 1926, and he was the first to define both the similarities and contrasts between these death communities and biocoenoses.