Where they male or female? Age? Where did they come from? When did they arrive? These are the questions that Lydia Lingerfelt and Dr. Pilger wanted to answer about the two skeletons that are owned by Agnes Scott College Biology department. They decided to use osteological information to learn about the biological history of the two skeletons, historical records, catalogs, and surveys completed by Agnes Scott alumni to discover the year the skeletons arrived.
In addition to discovering the time the skeletons arrived, Lydia and Dr. Pilger wanted to find the age, sex, and health status of these two skeletons. They sent out surveys to Biology majors who attended Agnes Scott from the year 1965 and earlier years, looked at yearbooks dating back to the year 1889, and old catalogs to try to figure out when the skeletons arrived. It was discovered that one skeleton was used in a Physiology and Hygiene class in 1906 and the oldest alumni recalls seeing a skeleton when she attended Agnes Scott in 1931. Also, there is a reference to a skeleton in an Agnes Scott yearbook that was made in 1899 referring to the skeleton as Bonsey.
The sex was determined by using os coxae (pelvic bone) morphology and cranial features, It was discovered that one skeleton (skeleton A) was a male and the second skeleton (skeleton B) was a male. The age of the skeletons was discovered by using the dental development, bone fusion, and cranial suture fusion.
In conclusion, they discovered that the skeletons were both males and their age ranged from 35 to 55, one skeleton has been at the college since 1899 and the second arrived before 1931, skeleton A had servere periostitis of the left femur, and skeleton B had servere periodontitis and was a vegetarian.