The Beauchêne skull, or exploded skull, is a type of anatomical preparation for which the bones are separated and mounted in anatomical position, but spaced out, so that it looks like the bones are suspended in mid-air. The Beauchêne skull is… Read More ›
Osteology
A 13th Century Guide to Forensic Anthropology
The oldest existing forensic science text is The Washing Away of Wrongs (also known as the Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified, or Hsi yuan chi lu), written around 1247 CE. Sung Tz’u (or Song Ci), who is considered to be… Read More ›
Did long-term corseting really cause women to meet an early demise?
H/T: Dr. Kristina Killgrove’s article “Here’s How Corsets Deformed The Skeletons Of Victorian Women” on Forbes. For centuries people have deformed their skeletons to mold different parts of their bodies to what is considered an ideal shape in their culture. Long-term corseting,… Read More ›
Skulls destroyed by late stage syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria, Treponema palladium, and was first described during the Siege of Naples in 1495. It has three stages: primary, secondary, and tertiary. It’s during the tertiary stage, or the final stage, that bones are… Read More ›
Update #2: More on the contents of the 1700 year old coffin of Roman child.
On Monday, experts from Archaeology Warwickshire opened a lead-lined coffin they believe contains the remains of a child who died in Roman England, about 1700 years ago. When they got their first look inside the coffin, archaeologists found a thick… Read More ›
Why does the Atacama skeleton look like an alien but is actually human?
This bizarre little 6-inch skeleton was found in a pouch in the Atacama Desert in Chile in 2003. Almost immediately the skeleton, nicknamed ‘Ata’ for the desert in which it was found, sparked the imaginations of people around the world and… Read More ›
[Open Post] Why do disarticulated feet in sneakers frequently wash ashore?
This post is updated as more disarticulated feet are discovered. When a dead body ends up in water (whether by murder, accident, or suicide) the hands and feet easily detach from the arms and legs as the body decomposes, because, compared to… Read More ›
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