Wikipedia has a reasonable definition
The Journal of Taphonomy is here
and Taphonomy.com has some good references
So the curious will just have to go and read some source material. This is by no means a complete list of references, but I'm sure it's long enough to keep you busy for a while.
Behrensmeyer, AK 1978 “Taphonomic and ecological information from bone weathering”. Paleobiology 4(4):150-162
Behrensmeyer, AK and SM Kidwell 1995 “Taphonomy's contributions to paleobiology”. Paleobiology 11(1):105-119
Bickart, KJ 1984 “A field experiment in avian taphonomy”. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 4:525-535
Briggs, DEG 2001 “Exceptionally preserved fossils”. In: DEG Briggs and PR Crowther (eds), Palaeobiology II, Blackwell Science, London, pp 328-332
Denys, C 2002 “Taphonomy and Experimentation”. Archaeometry. 44(3):469-484
Dirkmaat, DC and JM Advosasio 1996 “Application of Archaeological Methods to Forensic Investigations”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Forensic Taphonomy: The Postmortem Fate of Human Remains, CRC Press, New York, NY, pp 39-64
Efremov, JA 1940 “Taphonomy: New Branch of Paleontology”. Pan-American Geologist 74(2):81-93
Farlow, JO and A Argast 2006 “Preservation of fossil bone from the Pipe Creek sinkhole (Late Neogene, Grant County, Indiana, U.S.A.)”. Journal of Paleont. Soc. Korea 22 (1): 51-75
Garland, AN 1987 “A histological study of archaeological bone decomposition”. In: A Boddington, AN Garland and RC Janaway (eds), Death, decay and reconstruction: Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science, Manchester University Press, pp 109-126
Gordon, CC and JE Buikstra 1981 “Soil pH, bone preservation, and sampling bias at mortuary sites”. American Antiquity 46(3):566-571
Haglund, WD 1991 Applications of taphonomic models to forensic investigations. PhD Thesis
Haglund, WD and MH Sorg 1996 “Introduction to Forensic Taphonomy”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Forensic Taphonomy: The Postmortem fate of Human Remains. CRC Press, New York, NY, pp 1-9
Haglund, WD and MH Sorg 1996 “Method and Theory of Forensic Taphonomic Research” . In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Forensic Taphonomy: The Postmortem Fate of Human Remains. CRC Press, New York, NY, pp 13-26
Haglund, WD and MH Sorg 2002 Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: method, theory and archaeological perspectives. Boca Raton, CRC Press.
Haynes, G 1983 “A guide for differentiating mammalian carnivore taxa responsible for gnaw damage to herbivore limb bones”. Paleobiology 9(2):164-172
Hill, A 1979 “Butchery and natural disarticulation: An investigatory technique”. American Antiquity 44(4):739-744,
Hill, A and AK Behrensmeyer 1984 “Disarticulation patterns of some modern East African mammals”. Paleobiology 10(3):366-376
Hochrein, MJ 2002 “An Autopsy of the Grave: Recognizing, Collecting and Preserving Forensic Geotaphonomic Evidence”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspectives. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 45-70
Iannidou, E 2003 “Taphonomy of Animal Bones: Species, Sex, Age and Breed Variability of Sheep, Cattle and Pig Bone Density”. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:355-365
Jans, MME, CM Nielsen-Marsh, CI Smit, MJ Collins and H Kars 2004 “Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone”. Journal of Archaeological Science 31:87-95
Lambert, PM 2002 “The Archaeology of War: A North American Perspective”. Journal of Archaeological Research 10(3):207-241
Larsen, CS., MC Griffin, DL Hutchinson, BE Noble, L Norr, RF Pastor, CB Ruff, KF Russell, MJ Schoeninger, M Schultz, SW Simpson and MF Teaford 2001 “Frontiers of contact: Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida”. Journal of World Prehistory 15(1):69-123
Littleton, J 2000 “Taphonomic effects of erosion of deliberately buried bodies”. Journal of Archaeological Science 27:5-18
Lyman, RL 1984 “Bone Density and Differential Survivorship of Fossil Classes”. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 3:259-299
Lyman, RL 1994 Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press
Lyman, RL 2002 “Taphonomic agents and taphonomic signatures”. American Antiquity 67(2):361-365
MacGregor, DM, WB Wood and DJ Brecknell 1996 “Soil accumulation of by-products of tissue decomposition and time since death”. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences 28:67-71
Milner, GR and VG Smith 1989 “Carnivore alteration of human bone from a late prehistoric site in Illinois”. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79:43-49
Morton, RJ and WD Lord 2002 “Detection and Recovery of Abducted and Murdered Children: Behavioral and Taphonomic Influences”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspectives. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 151-171
Morton, RJ and WD Lord 2006 “Taphonomy of child-sized remains: A study of scattering and scavenging in Virginia, USA”. Journal of Forensic Science 51(3):475-479
Munsen, PJ and RC Garniewicz 2003 “Age-mediated survivorship of ungulate mandibles and teeth in canid-ravaged faunal assemblages”. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:405-416
Nelson, AJ 1998 “Wandering Bones: Archaeology, Forensic Science and Moche Burial Practices”. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 8:192-212
Nicholson, RA 1998 “Bone degradation in a compost heap”. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:393-403
Payne, JA 1965 “A summer carrion study of the baby pig Sus Scrofa Linnaeus”. Ecology 46(5)592-602
Reichs, KJ (ed) 1998 Forensic Osteology: Advances in the Identification of Human Remains (2nd ed.), Charles C. Thomas: Springfield, IL
Roksandic, M 2002 “Positon of skeletal remains as a key to understanding mortuary behaviour”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeologica Perspectivesl,Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 99-117
Saul, JM and FP Saul 2002 “Forensics, Archaeology, and Taphonomy: The Symbiotic Relationship”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeologica Perspectivesl, Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 71-97
Schmitt, S 2002 “Mass Graves and the Collection of Forensic Evidence: Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspectives, Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 277-292
Scott, DD and M Connor 1996 “Context Delecti: Archaeological Context in Forensic Work”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Forensic Taphonomy: The Postmortem Fate of Human Remains. CRC Press, New York, NY, pp 39-64
Shipman, P, G Foster and M Schoeninger 1984 “Burnt Bones and Teeth: an Experimental Study of Color, Morphology, Crystal Structure and Shrinkage”. Journal of Archaeological Science 11:307-325
Sledzik, PS 1998 “Forensic Taphonomy: Postmortem Decomposition and Decay”. In: K Reichs (ed.), Forensic Osteology: Advances in the Identification of Human Remains. 2nd Edition, Charles C. Thomas: Springfield, IL, pp 109-119
Soares, MB 2003 “A taphonomic model for the Mesosauridae assemblage of the Irati Formation (Paran Basin, Brazil)”. Geologica Acta 1(4):349-361
Stojanowski, CM, RM Seidermann and GH Doran 2002 “Differential skeletal preservation at Windover Pond: Causes and consequences”. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 119:15-26
Symes, SA, JA Williams, EA Murray, JM Hoffman, TD Holland, JM Saul, FP Saul and EJ Pope 2002 “Taphonomic Context of Sharp-Force Trauma in Suspected Cases of Human Mutilation and Dismemberment” In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspectives, Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 403-434
Tersigni, MA 2007 “Frozen human bone; A microscopic investigation”. Journal of Forensic Science 52(1):16-20
Toots, H 1965 “Sequence of disarticulation in mammalian skeletons”. University of Wyoming Contributions to Geology 4:37-39
Turner, CG II, JA Turner and RC Green 1993 “Taphonomic analysis of Anasazi skeletal remains from Largo-Gallina sites in northwestern New Mexico”. Journal of Anthropological Research 49(2):83-110
Ubelaker, DH 2002 “Approaches to the Study of Commingling in Human Skeletal Biology”. In: WD Haglund and MH Sorg (eds), Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspective, Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp 331-351
Villa, P, and E Mahieu 1991 “Breakage patterns of human long bones”. Journal of Human Evolution 21:27-48
Waldron, T 1987 “The relative survival of the human skeleton: implications for palaeopathology”. In: A Boddington, AN Garland and RC Janaway (eds), Death, decay and reconstruction: Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science. Manchester University Press,pp 55-64
Willey, P., and LM Snyder 1989 “Canid modification of human remains: implications for time-since-death estimations”. Journal of Forensic Sciences 34(4):894-901
