Ask Me Help Desk - Human bones

Human bones

p h r e e q u e s h o w
Not the best name to label a human with deformities,but it shows many types of diseases which did not have cures and/or explanations at that time and most never had medical care for it.

I understand that there are always rare diseases which occur in humans bones.

Is it possible to determine if the person suffered from bone disease by studying the skeleton? Even if the skeleton is thousands of years old?

Is it possible that the ape man and the rest of the evolution links also were some form of bone deformation?

Could bone disease be passed on by in breeding? I have read about wolves having this happen, does it also happen in humans?

I know a lot of questions,but I am a very curious person:)

Thanks in advance for any information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by firmbeliever

Is it possible that the ape man and the rest of the evolution links also were some form of bone deformation?

This confuses me a lot, what do you mean by this?

Cap,
I meant,
Could the shape of the human skeletons found, which seem apelike in their head structure or bone structure be some form of bone deformation of a normal human like us?

A human skeleton with bone disease which made the head larger, or the arms longer or the legs bowed (I am not exactly sure which are the characteristics of the bones/skeletons found which are considered as links of evolution from ape to man).

For example, the link in the OP, if we were to find a skeleton with those deformations which happened to be the oldest skeleton found, would it be possible to determine it was bone disease that gave the bones the appearance say somewhat non "humanlike"?

There must be a simpler way to ask this, but I can't seem to get there. :)

I think I understand what you are trying to say.

We evolved over time (I'm not talking about evolution), things have changed. An example, we no longer use our appendix. This was used for digestion of raw meat. As our society has changed, so has the shape of "things" so to speak. We stand more erect since we don't have to be looking over the ground to forage for food... etc.

I hope I'm making sense... just finished a 16 hour shift and am dogged tired, but to wired to sleep just yet.

Hm... I understand your questions. It's perhaps summarised as like:

"Could human be the result of a bone deformation from the times of apes, which passed on generations and generations?"

Interesting questions to which I'll be looking for the answers :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firmy

Is it possible to determine if the person suffered from bone disease by studying the skeleton? Even if the skeleton is thousands of years old?

And here, we have very old bones, and the best examples are fossils of dinosaurs. I know that a wound in a bone, followed by the gradual healing of the bone can be traced from fossils. However, I don't know if bone diseases are as easy to see...

J,
You always make sense, even when you have just finished a 16 hour shift.:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown008

Hm... I understand your questions. It's perhaps summarised as like:

"Could human be the result of a bone deformation from the times of apes, which passed on generations and generations?"
Interesting questions to which I'll be looking for the answers :)

And here, we have very old bones, and the best examples are fossils of dinosaurs. I know that a wound in a bone, followed by the gradual healing of the bone can be traced from fossils. However, I don't know if bone diseases are as easy to see...

Unky,:)
Actually that wasn't the question, I was thinking more along the lines of mistaking deformed human bones to be that of half apes/ half human skeletons.

A wound is known because there is some sort of break in the bone? Or a hole where it should not be?A dent where it should not be?

For example can ossification be seen in bones as old as Lucy or the Iceman?

Quote:

Originally Posted by firmbeliever

J,
Unky,:)
Actually that wasn't the question, I was thinking more along the lines of mistaking deformed human bones to be that of half apes/ half human skeletons.

Ok, I misunderstood then...

Quote:

A wound is known because there is some sort of break in the bone? Or a hole where it should not be?A dent where it should not be?

Actually, I found this in a documentary where they were trying to prove that tyrannosaurs were predators and not scavengers. A wound formed by the tooth of a tyrannosaur in the tail of another dinosaur had marks indicating that the wound had healed with time. So, I will say yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ;

Is it possible that the ape man and the rest of the evolution links also were some form of bone deformation?

If you’re studying evolutionary relationships, by looking at bones, you need to think about disease process that could change / shape bones. There are a number of genetic diseases (= diseases that are inherited) that effect the skeleton. For example, look up Marfan syndrome at Wikipedia or Google. Also infectious disease can modify the skeleton. For example, scientists have shown that TB existed in ancient times by examining the bones of people with skeletal tuberculosis (See Potts disease.)

Your question is an area of active controversy among people studying human evolution. Have you heard about a Hobbit-like human ancestor? In 2003 some remains were found on the Indonesian island of Flores that most scientists think aren’t from modern man. (See Homo floresiensis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). A few scientists think the bones are from a microcephalic modern human.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ;

Could bone disease be passed on by in breeding? I have read about wolves having this happen, does it also happen in humans?

Sure, an example would be microcephaly. Check out the Wikipedia Microcephaly link (see Microcephaly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and look for the link to the “The Rat People of Pakistan” Most human genetic diseases are rare & recessive. Recessive means that you need to inherit this disease trait from both parents. If the disease is rare how do you inherit it from both parents? The most common way is when the parents are related (cousins). There are many other examples...

Thanks Jem,
Interesting information,will read up on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by firmbeliever

Is it possible to determine if the person suffered from bone disease by studying the skeleton? Even if the skeleton is thousands of years old?

Yes. It definitely is possible. Bone diseases often leave distinctive marks on bones, even fossilized bones.

Quote:

Is it possible that the ape man and the rest of the evolution links also were some form of bone deformation?

No. That is not at all likely. First, there is a difference between a malformation and an adaptation. The history of ape-hominid morphology shows some consistent patterns. For example, some ancient hominids (human like apes) had jaw and tooth adaptations for eating tough foods like grasses, while others had adaptations for eating fruits and roots. Some people think our tiny teeth are a result of the discovery of fire and cooking, although exactly when that happened, nobody knows. Cooking is at least 40,000 years old and is a universal trait of humans.

Second, there is a consistent pattern of change over time. A series of malformations would not show such clear patterns. For example, first we evolved to walk on two feet, then to run. Over time you can see the appearance of adaptations of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand that gave us the ability to dig for roots with sticks and throw rocks. These changes don't all appear at once, but piece by piece in different ancient fossils.

Quote:

Could bone disease be passed on by in breeding? I have read about wolves having this happen, does it also happen in humans?

Yes, there are genetic diseases of the bone. And a genetic disease could even turn out to be a useful trait. (Think about the bony backs of armadillos--which would be a terrible malformation in most animals.) But most bone diseases are infections and would not be passed on.

Cheers!
Asking

Thanks Asking.

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