Histology of Ancient Human Bone: Methods and Diagnosis

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIV

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2. An Introduction to the Histology of Exhumed Mineralized Tissue

   • A. Neil Garland

   Pages 1-16

3. Light Microscopy of Excavated Human Bone

   • Bernd Herrmann

   Pages 17-26

4. Decomposition Phenomena in Thin Sections of Excavated Human Bones

   • Gisela Grupe, Ute Dreses-Werringloer

   Pages 27-36

5. Some Remarks on Palaeohistology from a Comparative Evolutionary Point of View

   • Armand J. de Ricqlès

   Pages 37-77

6. Differential Diagnosis of Human and Animal Bone

   • Laszlo Harsányi

   Pages 79-94

7. Human Bone Remodelling and Aging

   • Hilde Uytterschaut

   Pages 95-109

8. Approaches to the Histological Age Determination of Cremated Human Remains

   • Susanne Hummel, Holger Schutkowski

   Pages 111-123

9. Comparative Histological and Microradiographic Investigations of Human Bone

   • Friedrich W. Heuck

   Pages 125-136

10. Histomorphometric Methods Applied to Bone

    • Georges Boivin, Pierre J. Meunier

    Pages 137-156

11. Palaeohistology of Human Bone Remains: a Critical Evaluation and an Example of Its Use

    • Paolo Bianco, Antonio Ascenzi

    Pages 157-170

12. Pathology of Metabolic Bone and Joint Diseases

    • Brendan F. Boyce

    Pages 171-184

13. Initial Stages of Systemic Bone Disease

    • Michael Schultz

    Pages 185-203

14. The Uses of Scanning Electron Microscopy in the Interpretation of Some Examples of Trauma in Human Skeletal Remains

    • Jennifer Wakely

    Pages 205-218

15. Back Matter

    Pages 219-223

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The examination of excavated human bone finds is mainly the domain of anthropologists and forensic pathologists, the former working with ancient and historical specimens, the latter with modern finds. The methodological and diagnostic approaches to these skeletal finds are the same, regardless of the time of burial. For physical an­ thropology, bodily human relics are dealt with as historical resources which give clues to ancient population structure, population develop­ ment, life-style and subsistence. They are thus able to help scientists understand the present state of human populations. The identification of the finds, whether species diagnosis or the evaluation of individual parameters such as sex, age at death, body size and shape, kinship and pathology follows the same procedure used by forensic patholo­ gists, whose task is the identification of bodily relics in cases of crime, mass disaster and the like. However, there are other disciplines which benefit from excavated bone finds. Anatomy gains insights into the morphological variability of the skeleton in time and place. The implications for modern physi­ cians and pathologists are at least two-fold: pathological specimens are suitable to unravel the distribution of many diseases and the susceptibility of individuals to pathogens in pre-antibiotic populations. In addition to this epidemiological aspect, exhumed specimens often exhibit advanced states of bone disease which are no longer or only very rarely present in today's industrialized populations because of efficient surgical intervention and pharmacological treatment.

• Histologie
• Knochen
• Palaeoanthropologie
• Palaeohistologie
• Palaeopathologie
• Rechtsmedizin
• anthropology
• bone
• forensic medicine
• histology
• palaeohistology
• palaeopathology
• pathology
• tissue

• Institut für Anthropologie und Humangenetik, Universität München, München 2, Germany

  Gisela Grupe

• Manchester, UK

  A. Neil Garland

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