Osteology, the study of bones, is one of the most useful techniques for forensic anthropology available. The reason for this importance is that forensic anthropology deals with totally or partially skeletonized remains. It is through osteology that researchers can determine the age, sex, probable racial affiliation, and general stature of the person in life. The human skull is the most telling of all of the bones. The skull can be used to determine all of these particulars. However, often the skull is not available or it is not reliable due to deterioration, thus osteologists must use the bones available. Osteology can also help to determine the length of time since death.
The first step of osteology is to have an understanding of the human skeleton. There are many terms and names to be familiar with.
There are two types of traits that are looked at when dealing with skeletal remains, metric and non-metric. Metric traits are the measured variations of bones. For instance, the length of a humerus (upper-arm bone) from one person may be slightly longer than that of another person who was the same size. Non-metric traits are the differences between individuals' bones that can not be measured. For instance, one person's bone may fuse differently than another person's.
These typical tools used in osteology are measuring instruments for metric measurements.
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One of the first steps in osteology is determining whether the skeletal remains are human or another animal. While there is variation in every being, human or animal, there are general similarities in every species. If the skull is not present, human bones can be distinguished from animals by shape, size, and density differences. Species determination can be very difficult if the bones are fragmented. However, familiarity with the human skeleton can help in most cases.
References
Bass, W. M. Human Osteology- A Laboratory and Field Manual
Missouri Archaeological Society 1995
El-Najjar, M.Y., McWilliams, K.R. Forensic Anthropology
Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, IL 1978
France, D. L. Lab Manual and Workbook for Physical Anthropology
Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont 1998
Mays, S. The Archaeology of Human Bones
Routledge, N. Y. 1998
Metress, S.P. Human Osteology for Archeologists
Toledo 1989
Reichs, K.J. (ed.) Forensic Osteology: Advances in the Identification of Human Remains
Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, IL 1998
White, T.D. Human Osteology
Academic Press, San Diego. 1991