Virtual reconstruction and geometric morphometrics as tools for paleopathology: A new approach to study rare developmental disorders of the skeleton

Abstract
Survey studies of osteoarchaeological collections occasionally yield specimens exhibiting rare skeletal developmental disorders. Beyond paleopathological diagnosis, however, it is often difficult to gain insight into the processes, mechanisms, and consequences of the pathology, notably because archaeological specimens are often fragmentary. Here we propose a combination of virtual reconstruction (VR) and geometric morphometrics (GM) to address these issues. As an example, we use VR to reconstruct the only known archaeological specimen exhibiting persistence of the pelvic triradiate cartilage and compare it via GM with a set of healthy pelvises representing both sexes and different ontogenetic stages. Our results evidence (i) a marked deviation of the pathological pelvis from the adult mean shape, (ii) the retention of typical male features, and (iii) the retention of a paedomorphic ratio between iliac and ischiopubic size. Altogether, such data offer new insights into the modularity and integration of pelvic ontogeny, while at the same time demonstrating the usefulness of a combined VR/GM approach as complement to classical methods of paleopathology. Anat Rec, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Source: The Anatomical Record Part B: The New Anatomist - August 18, 2014 Category: Anatomy Authors: Marco Milella, Christoph P.E. Zollikofer, Marcia S. Ponce de León Tags: Full Length Article Source Type: research