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28 Jul 2026

Bone Compass

Just like a map needs north, south, east, and west, a skeleton needs its own set of directional terms, otherwise "the bone above the knee" means something different depending on which way the animal is facing. This short resource gets you fluent in the language zooarchaeologists use to describe where something is.

Below you will find a diagram illustrating directions and terms in animal anatomy.

ADD DOG IMAGE

Once you feel familiar with these terms, try and fill in the blanks on the following diagrams to test your knowledge!

horses more.png
Download the answers here

Now for the ultimate test, look at the following image and answer the questions that follow, keeping in mind directional terms are always relative to another point, rather than being absolute.

Q1. What part of the femur is highlighted in yellow?

Q2. Compared to the pelvis, which direction is the humerus (highlighted in blue)?

Q3. Between the radius and ulna highlighted in green, which is medial and which is lateral?

Answers

1: Proximal

2: Cranial

3: Radius is medial, Ulna is lateral

 

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