Appendix A - Osteology

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Page ID: 191822

Jason M. Organ & Jessica N. Byram

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Learning Objectives

Identify anatomical position and anatomical planes, and use directional terms to describe relative positions of bones and teeth.
Describe the different regions of the human skeleton and identify (by name) all of the bones within them.
Distinguish major bony features of the human skeleton like muscle attachment sites and passages for nerves and/or arteries and veins.
Identify the bony features relevant to estimating age and sex in forensic and bioarchaeological contexts.

Thumbnail: The skull consists of the cranium and the mandible (jawbone). The cranium is further divided into the neurocranium and viscerocranium. Credit: Parts of the Skull (Anatomy & Physiology, Figure 7.3) by OpenStax has been modified (some labels modified or removed) and is under a CC BY 4.0 License. [Image Description]

This chapter is a revision from “Appendix A: Osteology” by Jason M. Organ and Jessica N. Byram. In Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, first edition, edited by Beth Shook, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera, and Lara Braff, which is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.