ABSTRACT
Skeletal analyses can be approached at several hierarchical levels, ranging from organ level macroscopic analyses of whole bones to the molecular level. Intermediate is the histological or tissue level, which Harold Frost (1986) described as the level of “skeletal intermediary organization,” representing the collaborative activity of cells. Because of the mineralized structure of bone, the product of cellular activity is encrypted in its microscopic anatomy or histomorphology,* where it persists to be interpreted by the histomorphometrist. The first section of this chapter will discuss bone histomorphology as it relates to bone remodeling. Next, the chapter discusses aspects of histomorphometry and its role in evaluating bone at the histological level, followed by a discussion of methodological issues associated with applying histological techniques in anthropological research and forensic casework.
