Is that a lumbar vertebra, or are you just happy to see me?

I was mindlessly watching TV at the gym the other day, and suddenly I realized: "Wait, that's a human lumbar vertebra!"

Still from a Capital One commercial

It made me wonder why they chose a lumbar vertebra for the commercial.  I mean, doesn't trophy-taking usually involve either something big and personal, like a head, or something small and easily removed, like a finger?  Maybe the prop people just wanted something that was easy to dangle from a necklace?  But why not one of the cervical verts in that case?

Then I realized I was thinking way too much for 5:30 in the morning.

Posted in: Anatomy, Bones, Culture, Osteology, Vikings