#osteology

[beardless-bearded-vulture]

Finished cleaning a nearly fully fused skull of a young alpaca and the skull parts of a stillborn alpaca. The difference a few months can make!

[freechicken]

Sometimes you watch Bones, a TV show, and google every new thing the characters get excited about. These are called Lore-Drops. Because 9 out 10 times, it's an actual real-life exciting discovery!!

Source: The Smithsonian

[shadyufo]

Wolf Skull vs Cow Calf Skull

[small-hornedbeetle]

I named her Carmilla

[ochipi]

Us archaeologists: excavating skeletons

My senior: uh I’m so done with this

My fellow junior: I don’t want to continue

Me: sees absolutely no problem. “what’s going on?”

Them: one individual buried on his stomach with his hands between his knees somehow. The other has 7 legs stacked on top of each other. Anatomically correct. But why/how/what did you do to get 7 anatomically correct legs on top each other without other… stuff

Medieval people… for real…

[suzythered]

the problem with being friends with osteoarchaeologists is sometimes you catch them staring at you and you just know they are thinking about what your skull looks like without all the flesh

[capricornbones]

I’ve really dropped the ball on keeping up with my Tumblr, so I figured I needed to update with my recent completed additions to my cabinet. More on the way in due time…

[carrionhearted]

IM CLEANING UP THIS DEER SKULL AND OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS SO FASCINATING. His adult teeth were JUST coming in, they’re hidden but visible under his baby premolars. the size of his antlers lead me to think he was way older than he actually was- I assumed 2+ years, but this indicates he was only around for maybe 18 months. Nature is incredible I feel so honoured to see this up close. Extra photo of his impressive antlers (he’s all soapy, I’m at the degreasing stage!)

[chupacabracrafts]

This chonker of a road killed raccoon skeleton in finally ready to return to its finder! With his deformed left tibia and fibula, and well worn teeth, he was quite the memorable specimen to work with

[curiouscatalog]

"A painter is indispensably obliged to be acquainted with osteology; that is, with the several bones serving as props to bear up the flesh, wherewith they are covered..."

From: Leonardo, da Vinci. A treatise of painting. Translated from original Italian. London : J. Senex and W. Taylor, 1721.

ND1130.L6 1721

[shadyufo]

Horse Hoof Bones! These are the coffin bone ( aka distal phalanx ) which is the bone inside a horse's hoof, the short pastern bone ( aka second phalanx ) and the long pastern bone ( aka the first phalanx ). Really neat specimen to use for reference.

Available HERE in my Etsy shop!

[ilikevintagebooks]

Bones of the Arm and Hand

-The Hydropathic Encyclopedia 1857

[kiryu-kazuma-bottoms]

i’m an archaeologist and i’m in the only profession where i can legally say things like “pass me the knee cap” and “bones please wiggle more” while also sitting in a grave :D

[kattheerat]

Quick study!

I visited the Museum of Osteology on the weekend after my 21st birthday. So far i’ve doodled only 6 out of the One Million Billion photos i took, but i hope to do more

i’ve gotten pictures of plenty of non-mammals that i hope to study as well

[amentainsularis]

Third day being a "just a girl hanging around to enter a PhD program":

I'm studying new adolescent individuals to continue my graduate research, and the ones I'm currently analyzing are from a Bronze Age site in Italy (my favorite time period to work with!!). One of the skeletons belongs to a young woman who presents signs of a possible pregnancy. Although parturition markers are quite tricky to identify and they cannot tell with absolute certainty that a pregnancy occurred, it still amazes me (even after so many years in this field!) that we can hypothesize such an intimate detail about the life of someone who lived so far away in the past.

On a less uplifting note, I feel like my journey into this phd life will be a lonely one. Usually I’m the one motivating my colleagues but I rarely receive back the same energy back. I’m quite solitary and independent, I don’t mind doing my own thing but sometimes I wish I could receive more external support.

[mothhballl]

a friend and I found 3 opossum skeletons in just my backyard the other day! all of them had to have died this winter, otherwise i would have noticed them while they were still fleshy. I cant wait to get them all cleaned up!!