Skeleton Keys An Introduction to Human Skeletal Morphology, Development, and Analysis

About this book

In Skeleton Keys: An Introduction to Human Skeletal Morphology, Development, and Analysis, Second Edition, Jeffrey H. Schwartz presents a detailed yet highly accessible introduction to the study of the human skeleton. This unique volume examines the skeleton from its developmental basis to the expression of individual variation. It reviews a variety of different approaches used to determine an individual's sex, age, and pathological history and challenges readers to think critically about how to analyze a human skeleton rather than learning formulas for quick results. An ideal text for courses in human osteology, skeletal analysis, and bioarchaeology, Skeleton Keys is also a helpful reference for professionals.

Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of Skeleton Keys features:
- The companion website contains hundreds of colour images of skeletons and skeletal elements – demonstrating morphology, pathology, and nonmetric variation – that can be used as classroom projections or for individual study.
- Coverage of the most recent developments in the field, including the molecular regulation of bone and tooth formation
- Expanded studies in each area of analysis: sex, age, nonmetric variation, pathology, biodistance and bioarchaeology, and stable isotope analysis
- Additional photographic images, especially in the pathology and sexing chapters
- Two separate and extensively illustrated chapters on the skull, one dealing with articulated elements and one with isolated bones (these topics were covered in one chapter in the first edition)
- Integration of material – such as anthropometric landmarks – from appendices in the previous edition into relevant chapters as tables
- More accessible language throughout and an extensive glossary

Contents

Preface

1. An Introduction to Skeletal Anatomy and the Development, Physiology, and Biochemistry of Bone
2. The Skull
3. Individual Bones of the Skull
4. The Postcranial Axial Skeleton: Vertebral Column, Sacrum, Sternum, and Ribs
5. The Upper Limb
6. The Lower Limb
7. Teeth
8. Aging
9. Differentially Expressed Morphological Character States: Nonmetric Variation, Sex Determination, Populations, and a Discussion of Biodistance Analysis
10. Pathology: Disease, Trauma, and Stress

Appendix A: Osteometry
Appendix B: Comparative Osteology: Human, Deer, Bear, Pig

Glossary
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Jeffrey Schwartz is professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of The Red Ape, What the Bones Tell Us, and Skeleton Keys.