Breakage patterns in human cranial bones

Abstract

Background: No reference is currently available to differentiate fresh and dry bone fractures, caused intentionally or not, for the cranial skeleton. The authors therefore extrapolated characteristics already validated on infra-cranial bones to the skull bones. Methods: We studied four osteological series which had undergone prior interdisciplinary study to determine the etiology of the fractures. Results: This analysis allows comparisons to be made between fresh and dry skull bone fractures and enables us to discuss and validate the characteristics traditionally used for the intra-cranial skeleton: fracture angle, cortical delamination, roughness, fracture outline, presence of bone flakes. Conclusions: Fracture angle, cortical delamination, roughness and fracture outline can be used effectively on osteological series, not on an isolated sample or when taken out of context. We determined that, for an isolated piece of bone, only a large cortical delamination (greater than 10.5 mm) suggests a fresh bone fracture.

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