Is anatomy different in Peru?
Time once again for my favorite game: "What's wrong with this skeleton?" Today's contestant comes from an NPR piece "Finders, Not Keepers: Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru". I'm guessing NPR itself didn't take the photo - likely someone at Yale did - but the errors are egregious. See for yourself:
Have at it, commenters. How many things can you find wrong with this picture?
Once you're done with that, see previous episodes of "What's wrong with that skeleton?" - here courtesy the Daily Mail, here from Staffordshire University, and here from Bones.
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| Photo by Tim Moran (found at NPR.org) |
Once you're done with that, see previous episodes of "What's wrong with that skeleton?" - here courtesy the Daily Mail, here from Staffordshire University, and here from Bones.
Comments
1. Femora are on the wrong side (and are laid out with the anterior or front portion facing posterior or back).
2. There are 6 metatarsals on the left foot.
3. It looks like one of those 6 metatarsals is actually a second metacarpal. Hard to tell from the picture, though.
4. The ribs seem to be sided right but should be flipped over when laid out (the inferior portions are pointing upward, when they should be pointed downward).
5. It's unclear if the 11th and 12th ribs are just missing or if someone laid them out wrong. Ribs go small (~1-3) to big (~4-10) to small again (~11-12).
6. Again, hard to tell, but the radii look like they're flipped as well, proximal to distal. The radial heads are pointing at the carpals when they should be pointed at the humeri.
7. Which means the radius and ulna should be reversed, since the radius is lateral when laid out in proper anatomical position (and here seems to be medial).
8. I think the humeri are reversed; it looks like the olecranon fossae are pointed up (anterior) when they should be down (posterior).
9. The scapulae seem wrong (like they've switched left and right/front and back), but it's hard to tell from this picture.
10. Tibiae possibly don't go with this individual. Both have clear epiphyseal lines that aren't even close to closed at both ends (which puts this person's age around 12-15 - a younger adolescent). There might be a line of fusion evident in the proximal humeri, but there are no epiphyseal lines evident on the femora, for example, and I would expect to see them in a teenager.
11. Finally, the pathologies are odd too. How is it that the left fibulae is significantly bowed without any notable changes to the left tibia? The left(?) radius/ulna are also bowed compared to the opposite side.
At any rate, I'm fairly convinced that these bones come from 2 or more people. And I'm definitely convinced that whoever laid out this skeleton knows precious little about human bony anatomy.