3/28/2012
Kristina Killgrove
One of the stocks-in-trade over here at Powered by Osteons is featuring photographs of skeletons laid out incorrectly. Since this isn't just a one-off event, I'm going to rechristen the series with the rhetorical question, "Who needs an osteologist?"
Some may say that I'm being needlessly picky. But one of my pet peeves is presenting incorrect information to the public. Even if an osteologist can't be found, a medical doctor should remember enough of her training to consult on the layout of a skeleton. If a doctor cannot be found, there are anatomy books that can work much like the picture on the box of a puzzle yet to be put together. And if an anatomy book can't be procured, well, there's the internet.
Back to today's episode, which takes place in Italy. As far as I can tell, this skeleton is going to be put on display at the Museo delle Grotte. I hope that museum staff consult an osteologist before showing this to the public:
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| Roman skeleton from Grotte di Toirano (credit) |
For previous episodes of "Who needs an osteologist?" check out:
- NPR and/or Yale needs an osteologist
- Yorkshire Museum needs an osteologist
- Staffordshire University needs an osteologist
- Bones needs an osteologist
Posted in: Anatomy, Bioarchaeology, Education, Museums, Osteology, Romans, Who needs an osteologist?
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3 comments:
A little bit hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like the right and left tibiae are swapped and that the fibulae are placed medial to the tibiae rather than lateral, as they should be.
Right radius incorrectly placed (distal end is proximal and the bone is medial to the ulna), maxilla is upside down and backwards, scapula is in the midline (replacing the sternum), looks like an 11th or 12th rib is placed up near the "sternum", and aforementioned tibia/fibula issues,
Are there two radii on the right side?
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