Tag Archives: anatomy

Standard Anatomical Position

Bioarchaeological labs can be confusing places. Witness the following interaction, which takes place at least once a season: Bioarch 1: “This fragment’s a humerus, right?” Bioarch 2: [Examines bone] “No, it’s a left.” Bioarch 1: “But it’s humerus?” Bioarch 2: … Continue reading

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Anthropology Teaching Tips: Playdoh

As you may have garnered from the radio silence that blanketed the blog for week-long periods this summer, in July and August I solo taught my first self-designed course. Now, at this point in my academic career, I have a … Continue reading

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Osteology Everywhere: Target Edition

I swung by my local Target a few days ago to pick up much needed supplies (read: miniature cans of Coke Zero, emergency Gatorade, frozen enchiladas). While wandering through the aisles in search of things that I hadn’t realized that I needed , … Continue reading

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Abduction and Adduction

I always have a great time when I teach the anatomical terminology of  movement because students find it so easy to engage with the material. In my Science of Skeletons class I began experimenting with a charades-style activity that required … Continue reading

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Supination

I recently started teaching my first self-designed course at the University of Michigan, an intro to bioarchaeology class titled The Science of Skeletons. We had our first meeting last Thursday, and in addition to demonstrating the appropriate way to handle human … Continue reading

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Splanchnocranium

I’ve been reading a lot of research on the bioarchaeology of violence of late, thought-provoking  pieces by Haagen Klaus, Deb Martin and Gwen Robbins Schug that detail the ways in which the ideology of oppression is mediated by violence. In theory, this … Continue reading

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Nutrient foramen

A nutrient foramen is a small, smooth-walled hole for blood vessels found on the external surface of a bone. Size-wise these tend to be in the range of what you’d expect if you poked the tip of a pen through the … Continue reading

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Glenoid fossa

The term glenoid fossa can refer to a smooth indentation on either the scapula or the temporal bone. On the scapula, the glenoid fossa is located on the lateral side of the bone. It comprises a smooth, oval, and lightly indented surface … Continue reading

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Tibial Pursuit: How to identify and side the tibia

Trials and Tib-ulations. Shin Vogue. Ti-bia Determined. Tibia or not Tibia*. I have so many tibial puns on file that it was hard to pick just one for the title of this post. And if you’re wondering, yes, you are … Continue reading

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Palpable Anatomy: The Palmaris longus tendon

Happy January, everybody! I’ve been absent from the blog for a few weeks due to the arduous process of travelling from Thailand to Kazakhstan, and then back to the U.S. after a quick stop in Madrid – a journey of … Continue reading

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