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 image
Original 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 BCE
Original image from http://www.boneclones.com. Used with permission
Arthritis
Arthritic on the Left, and Normal on the Right
Original 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 grow
around the .22 caliber
bullet. That's antemoretem
Racial Characteristics – Sex
Set 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 Shape
Hyperbola, Parabola, or Rounded
Arch Shape
Hyperbola, Parabola, or Rounded
Arch Shape
Hyperbola, 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
Small
Large
Small
Large
Mastoid Process
(Behind Ear)
External Occipital Protuberance
(Back of Skull)
(Not Prominent)
General Anatomy
Gracile (i.e., Graceful)
Forehead
Vertical
Brow Ridges
(Location of Eyebrows)
Muscle Lines
Orbital Margins
(Edge of Eye Socket)
Angle of Ascending Ramus
(Back Corner of the Jaw)
(Prominent)
Robust
Receding
(Careful with the comments . . .)
Slightly Developed
Prominent
Slightly Developed
Prominent
Sharp
Rounded
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?