Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't anthropologists and
>archaeologists work on very old dead people?

THE CRANIAL SUTURE CLOSURE RESEARCH, LOOKING AT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE
AND CRANIAL SUTURE CLOSURE, WAS DONE ON CADAVERS OF KNOWN AGE, NOT
PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.  THE TECHNIQUE IS APPLIED TO THE OLDER
SKELETONS, BUT WAS DEVELOPED BASED ON PEOPLE OF KNOWN AGE.  WHEN I DISSECTED
A CADAVER IN MEDICAL SCHOOL, HE WAS EMBALMED OF COURSE, BUT NEWLY DEAD, A
50-YEAR OLD MAN, WITH COMPLETELY FUSED SAGITTAL AND SQUAMOSAL SUTURES.

NOT TO MENTION THAT THERE ARE CONDITIONS WHERE THE SUTURES CLOSE
PREMATURELY, AND THAT LEADS TO DEFORMATION OF THE SKULL AS THE BRAIN TRIES
TO GROW AND THE SKULL EXPANDS IN WHATEVER DIRECTION IT CAN.  THIS CONDITION
IS CALLED CRANIAL SYNCHONDROSIS AND RESULTS IN DISTINCTIVELY ODD-SHAPED SKULLS.

 Isn't it possible the the skull
>undergoes some kind of transformation as it lies in the dirt for so many
>years that makes it imposiible to distiguish between sutures and bone?

NO.  BONE IS A LIVING TISSUE THAT REQUIRES OXYGEN AND NUTRIENTS FROM THE
BLOOD TO BE ALIVE AND TO REMODEL.  ONCE THE PERSON HAS DIED THE BONE DOES
NOT CONTINUE TO GROW.  PLEASE GO TO YOUR NEAREST UNIVERSITY'S ANTHROPOLOGY
DEPARTMENT AND ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU FUSED CRANIAL SUTURES.
>
>I have seen slides of magnified sutures of a very old but freshly dead
>skeleton. The Bones are not fused and the suture tissue still exists.

YES, OF COURSE, ALISON, SOME PEOPLE'S SUTURES NEVER FUSE, OR NEVER FUSE
COMPLETELY, AND IN ONE PERSON SOME OF THE SUTURES MAY BE FUSED WHILE OTHERS
ARE STILL OPEN.  YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT.
>
>I will get the references and share them with you all, but if you ever have a
>chance to see a cranial therapist work, I advise you to do so because seeing
>the results of therapy opens up whole new worlds of treatment approaches for
>LCs and provides a whole new pathway of understanding about how infant suck
>works.

I REPEAT MYSELF FOR THE THIRD TIME -- I'M NOT SAYING IT DOESN'T WORK, JUST
THAT IT MAY NOT WORK THE WAY THE THERAPISTS THINK IT DOES, AND THAT I THINK
IT IS VERY DANGEROUS FOR ANYONE TO BE DOING THIS WHO KNOWS VERY LITTLE ABOUT
THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BONES OF THE SKULL.  THE POTENTIAL FOR
BRAIN DAMAGE WOULD BE VERY HIGH.  IF THE PERSON DOING THE ACTUAL TREATMENT
THINKS THAT CRANIAL SUTURES NEVER FUSE IN ANYONE, THEN THEY DON'T KNOW
ENOUGH ABOUT CRANIAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY TO BE ALLOWED ANYWHERE NEAR
SOMEONE'S HEAD.




Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
e-mail to [log in to unmask]
(409) 845-5256
(409) 778-4513