BIOLOGY OF THE HUMAN SKELETON
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2021/2022
- Teacher
- BARBARA BRAMANTI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/08
Training objectives
- The course will give advanced theoretic and practical knowledge of human biology to study qualitative and quantitative skeletal traits. The skills of the student will be increased through activities carried out in the laboratory on human skeletal remains.
Prerequisites
- no one
Course programme
- Instruments and methods in Human Osteology.
Anatomical and functional aspects of the skeleton.
Discovery, excavation and recovery of human bones. Taphonomic analysis.
Transport, preparation and restoration of skeletal remains.
Morpho-metric analysis: planes of references, landmarks, measurements and indices; assesment of age and sex; estimation of stature.
Biological profile of the individual.
Trauma and osteological pathology; post-mortem skeletal modifications.
Applications in Forensic Anthropology and in Bio-archeology.
Seminars about ancient DNA, histology, 3D reconstructions, cremation practice and isotopic palaeodiet studies.
An important part of the course consists of tutorials and laboratory work on skeletal materials, whose arguments will be:
- Working in the laboratory; skeletal anatomy and siding
- Sex determination
- Age-at-death assessment
- Frequent bone and dental diseases Didactic methods
- Traditional lectures, exercises in the laboratory, seminars.
The lessons will be streamed and recorded.
The exercises in the laboratory will be in two-days full-immersion presence mode - in compliance with all anti-COVID19 standards.
The PowerPoint of the lessons are available to students in Classroom, including the theory of the exercises and a mini test which must be solved before they can access the laboratory and/or the oral examination. Learning assessment procedures
- Verification of learning will be done by oral examination. For the examination will be taken into account:
- a thesis of max. 3 pages (to be delivered at least 10 days before the exam) on 1-2 articles of the student's choice and Power Point presentation of the same paper (5 min.) during the exam
- three main questions on all teaching materials (included the theory of the exercises)
- anthropological test on skeletal remains (e.g. diagnosis of age from the skull) - if in presence of
- alternatively: recognition of a skeletal element and its lateralization - if in streaming mode Reference texts
- - Mays S. "The archaeology of human bones" Routledge, London and New York.
