A broad understanding of bone and tooth microstructure is necessary for constructing the biological profile of an individual or individuals within a population. Bone Histology: An Anthropological Perspective brings together authors with extensive experience and expertise in various aspects of hard tissue histology to provide a comprehensive discussion of the application of methods, current theories, and future directions in hard tissue research related to anthropological questions.


Topics discussed include:



The biology underlying skeletal growth and development leading to adult skeletal morphology
Current research in understanding in bone modeling
Histological features of dental hard tissues and their utility in biological anthropology
Histological analysis as a means to differentiate human from nonhuman bone and for the purpose of age estimation
The biomechanics of cortical bone

Table of Contents


Bone Remodeling, Histomorphology, and Histomorphometry; Sam D. Stout and Christian Crowder

Growth and Development: Morphology, Mechanisms, and Abnormalities; James H. Gosman

Making the Mold: A Microstructural Perspective on Bone Modeling during Growth and Mechanical Adaptation; Corey M. Maggiano

Histological Features of Dental Hard Tissues and Their Utility in Forensic Anthropology; Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg and Michaela Huffman

Differentiating Human from Nonhuman Bone Microstructure; Dawn M. Mulhern and Douglas H. Ubelaker

Histological Age-at-Death Estimation; Margaret Streeter

Interpreting Load History in Limb-Bone Diaphyses: Important Considerations and Their Biomechanical Foundations; John G. Skedros

Bone Fracture: Biomechanics and Risk; Amanda M. Agnew and John H. Bolte IV

Histotaphonomy; Lynne S. Bell

Light Microscopic Analysis of Macerated Pathologically Changed Bones; Michael Schultz

Histological Analyses of Human Bone from Archaeological Contexts; Susan Pfeiffer and Deborrah Pinto

Bone Histology Collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine; Brian F. Spatola, Franklin E. Damann, and Bruce D. Ragsdale

The Melbourne Femur Collection: How a Forensic and Anthropological Collection Came to Have Broader Applications; C. David L. Thomas John G. Clement

The Histology Laboratory and Principles of Microscope Instrumentation; Helen Cho

Technological Developments in the Analysis of Cortical Bone Histology: The Third Dimension and Its Potential in Anthropology; David M. L. Cooper, C. David L. Thomas, and John G. Clement