And Now for Something Completely Different

OK, it's not a flying circus, but it is a sideshow.

Lately, I've been working on improving my illustration skills by making ATCs or Artist Trading Cards. It's fun to make little art and trade it with other folks, and themed swaps make me stretch myself to see what I can come up with to fit. But what, you may ask, does any of this have to do with bones? Well, I haven't posted here recently (though I'm going to aim for at least one post a week from here on), as I've been busy with art and writing and various other things. But this past week I had a chance to draw some bones for an ATC swap.

So, without further ado, may I present A Scientific Study of Sideshow Freaks through their Skeletal Anatomy (which is, of course, not scientific at all--though it would be fun to re-do them as Victorian-esque scientific drawings, come to think of it).

Exhibit 1: The Rat-Tailed Boy

Exhibit 2: The Two-Headed Man

Exhibit 3: The Three-Legged Woman

Exhibit 4: The "Mermaid"

Next post, I promise to get back to the more serious business of bone study.

Top 50 Archaeology Blogs

Why a list called 50 Best Blogs for Archaeology Students would show up on a blog for Radiology Technician Schools, I do not know, but it's a good list and worth looking at, and besides, my friend Tim's blog Elfshot: Sticks and Stones is listed at number 8.

I find it interesting that, while there are quite a few general archaeology blogs, or archaeology and anthropology blogs, and some blogs on specific topics or parts of the world, there is no zooarchaeology blog. Perhaps someone out there is doing one and it's either too new or too little read to show up on a top 50 list. Oh wait, someone is doing one. It's me. Seriously, though, if anyone reading this (does anyone read this?) knows of any other zooarch blogs or osteology blogs, or blogs dealing significantly with bones, drop me a line or leave a comment and I'll start a blogroll in the sidebar.

Bird Bones

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like there are fewer online references for osteology and zoorchaeology than there were back in the 90s when I was an archaeology student. That said, I have found some really great sites for bird osteology.

The first site I found is the Bird Skull Collection. It's maintained by the Experimental Zoology Group of Wageningen University and is, as the title indicates, a collection of bird skulls, all photographed from multiple views. Obviously, not every bird species in the world is included here, but the collection is vast and continually growing, and the images are clear. In addition to the skulls, there are full skeletons for some species, and even a selection of 3D images. There's even a quiz so you can test your knowledge of bird skulls (I'll leave that for when I've brushed up my skills a bit).

The links page on the above site then led me to the Seabird Osteology Pages, another site from the Netherlands. The images are mostly skulls, but the scope has expanded to include other bones, too. It's a less comprehensive page than the Bird Skull Collection--as it must be, focusing only on seabirds--but the quality of the photographs is top-notch. So if you're interested in seabirds, this is an essential site.

As for books, the main reference still seems to be Avian Osteology by B. Miles Gilbert (buy from amazon). A promising-looking book I haven't actually got my hands on yet is Manual for the Identification of Bird Bones from Archaeological Sites by Alan Cohen and Dale Serjeantson (buy from amazon). Another useful reference, especially if you're also interested in tracking and observing living birds, is Bird Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch (buy from amazon). It's got a decent section on bird skulls, but is limited to North America.

There are also assorted smaller sources and monographs on specific topics. One such is On the Osteology of the Striges. [Strigidae and Bubonidae] by R.W. Shufeldt (buy from amazon). It's a reprint from the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society from 1900. It's got illustrations of varying utility, but I haven't read it yet, so I can't say how good the text is. I've slowly building an osteology/zooarchaeology library for some time (emphasis on "slowly"), and I'll mention new books as I find them.

Taxidermy in Art

There's a great post on taxidermy in art over at Dr InSectus's Cabinet of Curiosities. The art of Ron Pippin, Jessica Joslin and Rosamond Purcell are all covered (with pictures!), and the work is just beautiful. I was already familiar with all three artists, but there were a few images here I hadn't seen. I'm especially fond of the work of Rosamond Purcell (who I'm also a fan of on Facebook). I've got a couple of her books, which I'll probably talk about in later posts, and I'm working on a triptych of linoprints based on one of her photographs of fossils. (OK, sometimes I secretly want to be Rosamond Purcell, except mostly I'm too fond of being myself.)

Some of this is the kind of work I can imagine myself doing, if I had more tools and more skills. Lately I'm imagining mounted and posed cow skeletons lurking in the bushes around my 5 acres. I know where to get the skeletons, too. Maybe this summer I'll get ambitious and learn how to mount them. If BillyZee will let me fill our property with skeletal cows. He might not like that.

Shopping for Bones

For no particular reason other than that I have a number of links to places you can buy bones and bone replicas, I'm going to start this blog with a short list of online shops. I haven't purchased from all of these places, so don't take their inclusion here as an endorsement. Please let me know if you have a good or bad experience with any of them, and I'll add it when I eventually turn this list into its own separate page.

Real Bones

• The Bone Room - I've never shopped here, but the Mythbusters do, so I suspect they're a good place to buy from.


• Evolution - I've shopped in their physical store and it was one of the highlights of my trip to NYC; I tried to mail-order once but the item I wanted (shark in a jar) required a special (expensive) permit to send to Canada, so I canceled, but they're probably good for US customers and non-special-permit stuff for outside US customers. Plus, they have a great name.


• Skulls Unlimited - I haven't yet purchased anything from here, but they do have a fantastic selection of both real bones and replicas.


• MilesCo Scientific - Never shopped here, and they don't have a huge selection, but might be a good resource for some things.

Fossil Replicas

• Bone Clones - I am dying (figuratively) to buy something here. They have gorgeous replicas of both contemporary and fossil bones, in a huge variety of animals. I could go very broke very easily. They make a lot of the replicas found for sale from other shops, but I've never ordered from them myself. Yet.


• Skulls Unlimited - they also sell replicas.


• Dinosaur Corporation -  I bought an archaeopteryx skull replica from here, and it's a decent quality for the price (they had the best price I could find at the time) and got here (to Canada from the US) in good time and in good shape.


• The Dinosaur Store - I came across this place when I was looking for archaeopteryx skull replicas, but I haven't bought anything from them. They haven't got a huge selection, but the quality and prices seem reasonable.