Section 4:
Bone Injury and Disease Skeletal Analysis

Now that we know what are the differences between pathology in contemporary skeletal remains and paleopathology in ancient remains, let's look at a few examples

Note the difference in the bones under a forensic case study compared to a bone under skeletal biology study.

Forensic Anthropology Evidence of  Pathology	Skeletal Biology Evidence of Paleopathology
Modern femur healed fracture This femur shows bony callus--evidence of healing. This bone probably healed many years before death	Fracture healing not set This left humerus was broken just above midshaft. The fracture failed to heal (a nonunion), resulting in continuing movement which formed the false joint.

Let's look at another example...

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