In my Human Osteology we’re studying bones that were preserved in a cave on the Haitian island of Ile de la Tortue. That’s Tortuga, for those familiar with Cap’n Jack Sparrow’s favorite haunt; the name means “Turtle Island”. Our final grade in the class will be, in part, based on written profile of the population and what we have learned from their bones.

Needless to say, I’ve discovered a lot about the human skeleton this semester.

For instance, did you know that when muscles are strengthened, the bones that they are anchored to, in turn, become thicker? From this Haiti population there are many arm and leg bone specimens that are at least a quarter of an inch thick. That’s huge! Osteoporosis? I think not.

Other things are a bit less pleasant. It’s pretty shocking to see lumbar vertebrae with jagged lipping or completely fused together from repetitive stress on the lower back. Or to see the horrifying way that syphilis eats through bone.

Unfortunately, because of the delicate nature of dried bones, most of the remains have been (as my friend Laura puts it) “kibble-ized”. So that fascination begins to wear off when you’re sifting through, say, over one thousand itty, bitty bone fragments.

Notes on Haiti rib specimens:

They had a lot of them.

The end.