Resurrecting Pompeii (47 page)

Falx
Sickle-shaped structure. In the case of the frontal bone, it is a sickleshaped structure in the midsection of the inner table.
Fecundity
The biological potential for bearing children.
Femur
Thigh bone.
Fibula
The outer, or lateral, lower leg bone.
Fissure
Deep grooves or cracks. It can also be used to describe a fault in a tooth surface, which can result from an imperfect union of two lobes or cusps.
Flexion
Bending.
Fontanelle
Areas of membrane between the ossification centres of infant cranial bones. It literally means a small spring or fountain.
Foramen
A small opening or hole.
Foramen magnum
Large opening at the base of the skull, through which the spinal cord passes. It is the largest opening of the skull.
Forensic
Related to the law. Forensic medicine is legal medicine.
Forum
A public area in a Roman town, which served numerous functions, including as a centre for business, judicial activities and as a marketplace.
Fossa
A depression or pit.
Frigidarium
Cool room and bath in a bath complex.
Frontal
The frontal bone is the bone of the forehead.
Fuller
Fullers dealt with the manufacture and cleaning of cloth
Fusion
This is the term used to describe a union of two adjacent bones or parts of bone.
Gingivae
In the jaws, the alveolar process is covered with a layer of soft tissue, which is known as the mucosa. It is gathered up in a cuff at the base of the crown of each tooth. The mucosa that actually forms the cuff is known as the gingivae.
Glabella
The most anterior point of the forehead. This landmark is located in the midline at the level of the supraorbital ridges.
Gnathion
This landmark is the most anterior inferior point of the mandible in the median sagittal plane.
Gonial angle
This is the angle formed by the intersection of the horizontal body and ascending ramus of the mandible.
Gonion
The most lateral external point of the gonial angle of the mandible. The lowest posterior and most outward point of the angle of the mandible.
Gracile
From the Latin
gracilis
, which means slender.
Growth
Progressive changes in size and morphology during the development of an individual. Growth tends to be positively correlated with age.
Growth plate region
The site of formation of bone tissue in a long bone that is growing. The growth plate consists of rows of cartilage cells that are highly ordered. The row that is furthest removed from the bony shaft is known as a germinative layer and it is responsible for cell replication and cartilage growth at the bone shaft. Eventually, the cartilage will be re-formed into true bone tissue.
Haematoma
A mass or pocket of blood that is outside the circulatory system.
Head
In an anatomical context, a head is a rounded smooth eminence that articulates with another bone.
Heterogeneous
Mixed
.
Histology
Investigation of the microscopic structure of tissues.
Homogeneous
Of the same kind or alike.
Homologous
Derived from common ancestry.
Humerus
The upper arm bone.
Hyaline cartilage
The translucent cartilage that covers the articular surface of a bone.
Hyperostosis
An abnormal growth of bone tissue. It usually results in the development of bone tissue that projects from the normal surface of the bone.
Hyperostotic trait
Associated with excessive ossification into structures that are usually made up of cartilage or dura.
Hyperplasia
An abnormal increase of cells in a structure.
Hyperthermia
When the body temperature is elevated to a temperature that is significantly higher than normal.
Hypoplasia
This is an incomplete or defective development of tissue. This term is usually applied to problems with the development of dental enamel.
Hypostotic traits
These traits reflect neotony in that they involve the retention of forms that are usually visible in the embryonic or early infant state, such as metopic sutures or inca bones.
Ilium
Dorsal part of the innominate bone.
Inca bone
This epigenetic trait results from a failure of the suture that runs from asterion to asterion to unite. The occipital bone is separated into two or more parts by a transverse suture, the upper part of which is defined as an inca bone.
Incisal
Cutting or biting edge of the incisor teeth.
Incisor
The first two front, or anterior, teeth on each side of the mandible and the maxilla.
Innominate bone
The hip bone or pelvis. Also known as the os coxa.
Insula
Derived from the Latin word for island and is used to describe an ancient city block.
Intercondylar
Between condyles.
Interpopulation
Between populations. Interpopulation differences are variations between populations.
Intrapopulation
Within a population. Intrapopulation variation refers to differences within a population.
Isis
This Egyptian goddess is best known as the sister and wife of Osiris, as well as the mother of Horus and the protector of Imseti.
Lambda
The midline point of intersection of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures.
Lapilli
Volcanic fragments, ranging from 2 to 64 mm in size that are ejected during an explosive eruption. Also used to describe pumice stones.
Lararium
Household shrine. These shrines were dedicated to the household gods, the
lares
.
Lava
Rock formed by the cooling of magma after it has been ejected from a volcano. The term is also used to describe the magma when it is being ejected.
Life tables
These are mathematical devices that are designed to measure the duration of certain phenomena. In demography, life tables usually measure the duration of life.
Magma
Material that is derived from the fusion of rock at high temperatures. These can range from 900 to 1200° C. Magma is siliceous in composition.
Magmatic chamber
The zone where magma accumulates beneath the surface of the earth. Magma can remain still for long periods of time before rising through the volcanic conduit and reaching the surface, thus creating an eruption.
Mastoid process
A large protuberance of the skull behind and below the external ear. This is the point of attachment for the sternomastoid muscle.
Menarche
The time of the first menstrual period.
Menopause
This is the sudden or gradual end of the menstrual cycle, which happens as a result of the loss of ovarian function.
Metopic suture
A midline fibrous joint between the two bones that make up the frontal bone. It is generally obliterated by the growth and fusion of the two bones by 8 years of age.
Metric analysis
is that based on measurements as compared to non-metric, which is based on observations rather than measurements.
Mofeta
Term employed by the eighteenth-century excavators to describe the noxious gases, notably carbon monoxide, that were trapped in the volcanic debris that covered the Vesuvian sites.
Morphology
The study of shape and form.
Multifactorial inheritance
This term applies to bone as the features of a bone result from a combination of genes and the environment.
Mummy
Mummies are preserved corpses of humans or other animals. In ancient Egypt this was done intentionally. The word mummy is derived from the Persian
múmiyá
, which means bitumen.
Nasion
This is a landmark in the midline at the root of the nose, where it joins the forehead.
Neonate
A newborn infant under 28 days of age.
Neotony
The retention of infantile or juvenile traits into adulthood.
Non-metric
Observations made directly from bone where no measurement is involved.
Nulliparous
Women who have not had a pregnancy come to term.
Occiput
The occiput is the back of the skull.
Occlusion
Dental occlusion refers to the way teeth fittogetherwithinand between the jaws. Normal occlusion is a standard, based on a young adult with complete dentition with all the teeth arranged in a regular and symmetrical fashion.
Pacchionian depressions
Small pits or depressions that can be seen on the sides of the superior margin of the parietal bone.
Palaestra
An open space that was used for sport and exercise. It was generally enclosed by colonnades.
Palaeoepidemiology
The study of disease in an ancient community.
Palaeopathology
In 1892, R.W. Schufeldt, a German scholar, introduced the term palaeopathology to describe the study of the illnesses of ancient human remains. Palaeopathology can be defined as the study of diseases in ancient populations, based on examination of skeletal remains and preserved soft tissues.
Parturition
Childbirth; the process of giving birth.
Perimortem
Occurring at or around the time of death.
Peristyle
An internal courtyard, which is generally flanked by a colonnade.
Perthes disease
This pathology generally has a distinctive appearance that is described as a ‘mushroom shaped’ femoral head. A disorder that results from an obstruction of the blood supply to the growing femoral head with resulting necrosis. It occurs four times as frequently in males than females and is most apparent on the femoral head, which appears deformed, flattened and widened. The femoral neck tends to be widened and is shorter than normal.
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Plaque
Dental plaque is made up of a dense accumulation of micro-organisms on the surface of the tooth. Most of the diseases that affect erupted teeth are due in some measure to dental plaque.
Plastic
The capacity of a biological material, like bone, to be modified by the environment, often during the period of growth and development. This can also occur as a result of disease or trauma.
Plinian eruption
Named after the description of the
_AD
79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius by Pliny the Younger in his letters to Tacitus. These are major explosive eruptions, which produce very high columns of ash and pumice that can rise tens of kilometres above the volcano and which result in considerable fallout.
Postmortem
Occurring after death.
Prognathism
A forward projection of one or both jaws from their normal relationship.
Pumice
A froth of volcanic glass that forms very vesicular and low-density bubble rich material. It is usually light grey in colour. It has been suggested that the word derives from the Greek
spuma
, which means foam. Pumice bombs are greater than 64 mm in size, pumice lapilli are between 2 and 64 mm and when it is less than 2 mm in diameter it is termed ash.
Pyroclastic
fl
ow
A dense avalanche of concentrated particles of pumice, ash and gas. The direction of a pyroclastic flow is determined by topography. They characteristically have high temperatures and velocities and result from the collapse of the eruptive column.
Pyroclastic surge
A dilute turbulent cloud of particles that are suspended in hot air and gas. Unlike pyroclastic flows, low-density, highly turbulent pyroclastic surges are not dependent on ground features. They are also associated with high temperatures and velocities. They are also known as base surges and are usually associated with phreatomagmatic eruptions.
Pyroclastites
Volcanic rocks formed from pyroclasts.
Pyroclasts
Also known as tephra. These consist of solid volcanic material, including ash, lapilli, sand and volcanic bombs, that are ejected during a volcanic eruption.
Qualitative data
Information that describes character and attributes, without emphasis on numerical measurement.
Quantitative data
Information that has been numerically measured.
Sexual dimorphism
Observable differences between males and females of the same species.
Skeletal age and skeletal maturation
A measure of biological maturation, as compared to chronological age, and based on skeletal development. An age-at-death assessment can only produce a biological age, which may differ from the actual age the individual was when they died.
Stable population
A construct to enable demographic studies to be made. A stable population is closed to inward and outward migration. Constant birth and death rates over a period of time indicate that the population will eventually converge on a stable age structure, with population size increasing or decreasing at a constant rate. In a stable population the numbers of people in each age category will increase or decrease at the same rate as the entire population. It has been suggested that rapid changes in fertility and mortality rates associated with demographic transitions appear to be a recent historical phenomenon and that pre-industrial populations can approximate stable populations.
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Stationary population
A special case of a stable population. In a stationary population, birth and death rates are roughly equal and population size is neither increasing nor decreasing.
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Sulcus
A groove or fissure.
Superior
Above.
Supernumerary
Additional or extra elements, such as teeth.
Suture
The fibrous joints between cranial bones. The word is derived from the Latin word
sutura
or seam.
Symphysis
A joint where two bones are united by fibrocartilage. This generally refers to the median joints, such as the pubic symphysis.
Synchondrosis