What Can a Skeleton Tell You

– Aging– Sexing– Population Affinity– Diet– Pathology– Trauma

Determining Age of Infant Prior to Birth

Click HERE for the full size imageOriginal image from http://www.boneclones.com.  Used with permission.

Try it Out

Aged 31 weeks, 32 weeks, and 40 weeks (full term)

What about this one?

Bear Claw vs. Human Hand

Like Fingerprints… just can’t be seen until antemortem

When you don’t floss

Aging

Peruvian Female, 100 BCEOriginal image from http://www.boneclones.com.  Used with permission

Arthritis

Arthritic on the Left, and Normal on the RightOriginal image from http://www.boneclones.com.  Used with permission.

Arthritis Top Normal Bottom

Which One Has Arthritis

Osteoarthritis

Top: a vertebra fused with the sacrum

Bottom: the manubrium (top of the sternum)

fused with the clavicle (shown cut here)

Original image from http://www.boneclones.com.  Used with

permission.

Vertebrate

Youth

Adult

Healing After Brain Surgery?

Bolivian Female,Brain Surgery Survivor, 800 AD

Peruvian Male, Bound Skull & Brain Surgery Survivor,7000 BCE

Trephination Cont

Inca skull after Trephination.  The lack of bone growth after the surgery indicates that the treatment was likely worse than the disease

View of wound in skull after trephination and removal of shattered bone, shown at bottom left. From Charles Bell, The Great Operations of Surgery, London, 1821. Etching by Thomas Landseer, after Bell.

Defects as Indicators

Sternal Defect Scoliosis

Cradleboarding

A prematurely fused sagittal suture, forcing the skull to elongate to allow for the expanding brain during growth

Surgical Techniques

Amputation

Perimortem•  

Note the sharp edges of the cuts above.

Perimortem

Machete Wounds, African Male

Broad Axe Trauma,Male Spanish Conquistador, 1680 AD

Original image from http://www.boneclones.com.  Used with permission.

Male Roman Gladiator,with Blunt Force Trauma

NOTE: Above eyes and on either side of the nose.

Original image from http://www.boneclones.com. 

Hammer Wounds

Shotgun pellets

.410 Caliber

Large Caliber GSW

Rib started to growaround the .22 caliber bullet. 

That's antemoretem

Racial Characteristics – SexSet 1

Set 2

Set 3

4

5

6

7

QUESTIONS:

• 1. What are two ways, other than size, to determine whether a skeleton is from a teenager or an adult?

• 2. How can you tell whether an injury occurred perimortem (around the time of death) or antemortem (well before the time of death)?

• 3. What are 5 things that you can determine about an individual adult from that person's intact skull?

RACE• The arch of the maxilla can be found in three basic shapes: hyperbolic, parabolic, and

rounded.  Each of the the following three races have their own shape: (1) African =

hyperbolic, (2) European = parabolic, and (3) Asian = rounded.

 -These two categories are: (1) shovel-shaped, and

(2) spatulate, or spatula-shaped.  -As there is more than one race

with spatulate incisors, other indicators are necessary to positively identify race, although this single feature can be used to eliminate one of the possibilities. 

-Each of the the following three races have their own shape:

(1) African = spatulate (2) European = spatulate (3) Asian = shovel-shaped.

Circle the Appropriate Answer

Arch ShapeHyperbola,   Parabola,   or  Rounded

Arch ShapeHyperbola,   Parabola,   or  Rounded

Arch ShapeHyperbola,   Parabola,   or  Rounded

Incisor Spatulate  or Shovel-shaped Incisor Spatulate  or Shovel-shaped Incisor Spatulate  or Shovel-shaped

RACE African  Asian  Caucasian RACE African  Asian  Caucasian RACE African  Asian  Caucasian

African ancestry, the nasal opening is more flared.  Another example is that of the zygomatic arch (or cheek bone), which is angled more forward in people of Asian

ancestry, thus giving the person a slightly more flattened face.. 

Gender- Pelvis

Try it out

•

Angle > 90 degrees   or   < 90 degrees Angle > 90 degrees   or   < 90 degrees

Sacrum Forward   or   Backward Sacrum Forward   or   Backward

Pelvic Outlet Small   or   Large Pelvic Outlet Small   or   Large

Ilia Close   or   Spread Ilia Close   or   Spread

Female   or   Male Female   or   Male

Skull

Landmarks Female Male

Chin Rounded Square

Mastoid Process(Behind Ear)

Small Large

External Occipital Protuberance(Back of Skull)

Small(Not Prominent)

Large(Prominent)

General Anatomy Gracile (i.e., Graceful) Robust

Forehead Vertical Receding(Careful with the comments . . .)

Brow Ridges(Location of Eyebrows)

Slightly Developed Prominent

Muscle Lines Slightly Developed Prominent

Orbital Margins(Edge of Eye Socket)

Sharp Rounded

Angle of Ascending Ramus(Back Corner of the Jaw)

Obtuse Close to 90 degrees

Circle the Appropriate Answer

Chin Rounded   or   Square Chin Rounded   or   Square

Mastoid Process Small   or   Large Mastoid Process Small   or   Large

Occipital Protuberance Small   or   Large Occipital Protuberance Small   or   Large

General Anatomy Gracile   or   Robust General Anatomy Gracile   or   Robust

Forehead Vertical   or   Receding Forehead Vertical   or   Receding

Brow Ridges Slight   or   Prominent Brow Ridges Slight   or   Prominent

Muscle Lines Slight   or   Prominent Muscle Lines Slight   or   Prominent

Orbital Margins Sharp   or   Rounded Orbital Margins Sharp   or   Rounded

Angle of Ramus 90 degrees   or   Obtuse Angle of Ramus 90 degrees   or   Obtuse

Gender Female   or   Male Gender Female   or   Mal

Aging

Adult skull has no remaining suture (called the frontal suture) in the middle of the Frontal bone.  Remember, also, that all the sutures ultimately become more

filled-in ("closed") as we age.

Circle the Appropriate Answer

Frontal Suture Present   or   Absent Frontal Suture Present   or   Absent

Other Sutures "Open"   or   "Closed" Other Sutures "Open"   or   "Closed"

Adolescent   or   Adult Adolescent   or   Adult

• An x-ray image (radiograph) of a child will reveal a dark area where the growth plates are still made of cartilage (more x-rays can pass through cartilage, which is less dense, thus making a dark area); these areas are the epiphyseal plates. 

• An x-ray radiograph of an adult will reveal a white area where the growth plates have been turned into bone (fewer x-rays can pass through bone, which is more dense, thus making a white line); these areas are the epiphyseal lines. 

Circle the Appropriate Answer

Epiphyseal Plate   or   Line Epiphyseal Plate   or   Line

Adult   or   Child Adult   or   Child

• QUESTIONS:• What is the easiest way to determine the gender (using

the skeleton) of an individual, and why? • What is the easiest way to tell (using the skeleton)

whether a teenager is lying about her/his age, and why? • Why can determining gender from a skull be difficult? • Why should a forensic anthropologist use more than one

bone (if possible) to determine the height of an individual?

• What other issue is important to question four, especially if there is only one bone from which to work?