12:363 Human Osteology

Overview: This course focuses on human skeletal anatomy and biology. Students will be given intensive instruction in the identification of adult skeletal remains including landmarks, features, muscle attachments and the associated muscle and action. A strong understanding of skeletal anatomy is the basis for all other methods of skeletal analyses and so is absolutely critical. Students will be introduced to some of the various methods of estimating age, assessing sex, and describing and identifying palaeopathological changes to bone and gain experience using these methods. Students will build on this information by creating their own osteology bone identification manual. This course will provide students with a strong foundation from which to pursue more advanced courses in skeletal biology, bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. This course is a pre-requisite for the more advanced and detailed methods of skeletal analysis to be taught in 12:383 in the Winter term.