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Neanderthals among us
the tree by the river (tlode@nyx10.cs.du.edu)
29 Sep 1995 21:57:26 -0600
I was having an interesting conversation this past weekend about
hominid skeletal morphology and one thing came up that I hadn't
heard before; namely, that one of the characteristic traits of
neanderthals is that they have a sort of "tongue-and-groove"
design to the distal ends of the tibia and fibula. Any of the
morpholology mavens out there know if this is true?
The reason that this statement was of particular interest to me
is that, back a few years, I managed to break my leg into itty-
bitty pieces and it took a fair amount of surgery to put it back
together again. It was explained to me at the time, though, that
the break was actually not nearly as bad as it could have been,
thanks in part to the fact that I have a sort "tongue-and-groove"
design as described above, which both serves to stabilize and
strengthen the ankle, and to move the area where one of the
fractures occurred to a much less problematic location. Given
that I already have the traditional occipital bunning and a
rather robust bone structure (including a very large and deep
ribcage), I'd be interested to know if I do, in fact, have any
more of the traits that are usually associated with neanderthals.
(Don't know what to make of this rather prominent sagital crest,
though; as far as I know, that's not a typical neanderthal
characteristic.)
--
Trygve Lode | 6529 Lakeside Circle, Littleton CO 80125 | (303) 470-1011
Want a copy of the soc.singles FAQ? Send mail to tlode@nyx10.cs.du.edu
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