Human Osteology

Purpose: To provide an introduction to basic osteological knowledge.

Osteology is the detailed study of bones and teeth. It should come as no surprise that for many centuries people have been heavily invested in studying human anatomy for its medical applications. The fundamentals of human anatomy were understood by most ancient civilizations, and the study of anatomy in Western universities – even through the Middle Ages – was founded on the antique writings of the Greek physician Aelius Galenus (“Galen”) from the late 100’s A.D. Ironically, the laws of the Roman Empire that Galen served forbade the dissection of human beings, and therefore his anatomical descriptions were based not on the direct study of humans, but rather the comparative study of animals such as pigs and primates. It wasn’t until the Renaissance that intellectual curiosity in the human body was reborn and the study of human anatomy was pursued again in earnest. Principal among these anatomists were figures such as Henry Gray (of “Gray’s Anatomy”) and Georges Cuvier, who pushed the study of comparative anatomy to new limits and founded the field of paleontology.

While the skeleton plays an obvious role as the support system for the rest of the body—making movement possible, and protecting vital organs like the heart, lungs, and brain—a new understanding is emerging of bones as an important, dynamic organ of the body. Your bones achieve their shape thanks to the influence of the muscles, blood vessels, and nerves that surround them, but continue to change throughout life in response to activity, nutrition, and disease. In addition to vital metabolic and physiological functions, bones produce a hormone (an important messaging molecule in the body) named osteocalcin that plays a vital role in your body’s ability to maintain healthy blood sugar, regulate testosterone levels, and stave off depression.

Despite its deep roots in the study of anatomy, human osteology, especially in terms of variation and development, is still the subject of much new research utilizing state-of-the-art methods. Bone histology, laser scanning, computed tomography, and strain analyses are just some of the newest techniques used at both the micro and macro scale to examine the properties of human bone from every angle. Using such powerful methods, biological anthropologists are able to answer questions about human identity, ancestry, lifestyle, development, and evolution from studying bones alone