| Summary: | An inquiry into why we should study and practice human osteology,Skeleton Keys: An Introduction to Human Skeletal Morphology, Development, and Analysis is a unique, integrative textbook that is relevant to many different types of analyses and interests, including theoretical aspects of development as well as practical elements of classroom work, laboratory studies, and field situations routinely encountered by physical anthropologists, archaeologists, and forensic pathologists. Designed as much more than a manual on skeletal analysis, this book is as concerned with the foundations for the morphologies that osteologists typically study as with the analysis of the morphologies themselves. This book includes much more basic morphology than other osteology texts, and it also places emphasis on understanding the development of adult morphology, from the cellular levels of bone and tooth formation to the theoretical aspects of the determination of size and shape of these structures. Another area of concentration deals with how sexual difference, normal variation, and certain pathological conditions can be better understood in a developmental context. Because of this integrated presentation, particular information (for example, on variation in facet or foramen number, abnormalities in bone growth and regulation, sexually dimorphic features, and supernumerary structures) is included in the descriptions and discussions of individual bones and regions so that a fuller perspective of our own species,Homo sapiens, can be achieved. In addition to offering practical aspects of analysis--such as determining age or sex, or taking measurements for the calculation of various indices--the author intersperses the text with theoretical discussions of the relevance of pursuing osteological analyses. Most importantly, whether in discussing the morphology and development of individual bones, the criteria often employed in the determination of age, sex, and populational affinity, or the differential diagnosis of diseases,Skeleton Keys accomplishes much more than providing background information. Useful and accessible for students and researchers in physical, biological, medical, and methods anthropology, forensic pathology, and archaeology, Skeleton Keys presents osteology as a vibrant field with a plethora of research avenues waiting to be pursued, thereby encouraging readers to imagine and aspire to future possibilities in research and study.
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