Osteology (from Greek ὀστέον (ostéon) 'bones' and λόγος (logos) 'study') is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, function, disease, pathology, the process of ossification from cartilaginous molds, and the resistance and hardness of bones (biophysics).[1]
Osteologists frequently work in the public and private sector as consultants for museums, scientists for research laboratories, scientists for medical investigations and/or for companies producing osteological reproductions in an academic context.
Osteology and osteologists should not be confused with the pseudoscientific practice of osteopathy and its practitioners, osteopaths.
- ^ Blau, Soren (2014). "Osteology: Definition". Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer. p. 5641. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_127. ISBN 978-1-4419-0465-2.