Becoming “Bones”

I’m a great fan of the TV crime series Bones, about a forensic anthropologist who helps the CIA solve crimes from analysis of skeletal remains. Dr Temperance Brennan, created by novelist Kathy Reichs from her own experience as a forensic anthropologist, can look at a skeleton in an impromptu grave and tell you that the victim was a female (from the shape of the pelvis), under 30 (from the hardening of the bone, Caucasian (from the shape of the skull) and from Eastern Europe (from the dental work). Yes, I learnt all that from watching telly so if ever I come across skeletal remains, I too can give you an on the spot identification…

But, seriously, if you want to learn this stuff for real - without going through many years of arduous professional training - the Museum of London is running a course for folk like you and me that will give you some basic skills such as:

“# how to age and sex skeletons
# which bones are important to measure
# what these measurements can tell us about physique and stature
# how we use bones to learn about health, disease and injury”*

You get access to the Museum’s 17,000 skeletons and get a chance to actually handle the bones…

Check out their course on The bare bones: Introduction to the study of human skeletons which runs from 28 April to 07 July.

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* extract from course description on the Musuem of London Bare Bones webpage

Photo:
- of the Bones TV series DVD from Amazon.co.uk
- of skeleton