Who needs an osteologist? (Installment 27)
I'm going to quote the inestimable Alison Atkin here, commenting on the headline "Church stunned as child's bones are dug up." She says, "Missing from headline: '...dug up' [from church grounds, which if anywhere is where you'd expect them, no?'"
But more to the point, the article quotes archaeologist Joe Abrams as saying these are the remains of a juvenile, a relatively young person. That's a lot of vague language, which is fine, but the article doubles-down and says "the size of the bones suggests that it [the child] was between 10 and 18 years of age at the time of its death."
Now check out that right proximal humerus. Notice anything? Or, rather, notice the lack of something? There is no epiphyseal line; it is completely fused. Fusion of the proximal humerus happens between about 18-22 years of age.
This may be a relatively young person (and then, based on the small size and the gracility of that forehead, female), but not a child.
But more to the point, the article quotes archaeologist Joe Abrams as saying these are the remains of a juvenile, a relatively young person. That's a lot of vague language, which is fine, but the article doubles-down and says "the size of the bones suggests that it [the child] was between 10 and 18 years of age at the time of its death."
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| Image of human bones from churchyard. Photo via Dunstable Today. |
Now check out that right proximal humerus. Notice anything? Or, rather, notice the lack of something? There is no epiphyseal line; it is completely fused. Fusion of the proximal humerus happens between about 18-22 years of age.
This may be a relatively young person (and then, based on the small size and the gracility of that forehead, female), but not a child.
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Previous Installments of Who needs an osteologist?
- Once again, Bones needs an osteologist.
- Tampa Bay History Center needs an osteologist.
- The Archaeological Museum of the Castle of Santo Anton needs an osteologist.
- The Gruppo Archeologico della Val Nure needs an osteologist.
- Polish archaeologists at the site of Kamien Pomorski need an osteologist.
- The South Florida Science Center and Aquarium needs an osteologist.
- GitHub needs an osteologist.
- The Telegraph needs an osteologist.
- University Museum in Chieti-Pescara needs an osteologist.
- NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences needs an osteologist.
- Huffington Post and the Mars Rover need an osteologist.
- PBS and Richard III need an osteologist.
- Abbot House Museum needs an osteologist.
- The Zanjan Museum needs an osteologist.
- National Geographic Channel's "Nazi War Diggers" needs an osteologist.
- BBC/NOVA needs an osteologist.
- The Penn Museum needs an osteologist.
- National Geographic needs an osteologist.
- Acura needs an osteologist.
- The "African" woman in Fairford, England, needs an osteologist.
- Museo delle Grotte needs an osteologist.
- Either NPR or Yale needs an osteologist.
- Yorkshire Museum needs an osteologist.
- Staffordshire University needs an osteologist.
- And, of course, Bones needs an osteologist.
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