Prevalence of Wormian (Sutural) Bones in the Paris Catacombs Ossuary

Abstract

Wormian, or sutural bones, vary in number, size, and arrangement in humans and other vertebrates. While their occurrence has been noted in some genetic bone development disorders, Wormian bones are also found in the general population. Currently, there are not reliable data to estimate the frequency at which they are found in humans with no underlying disorder. Some anthropologists have attempted to assess Wormian bone frequency in different human populations hoping to find whether there are differences among peoples of different genetic lineage. However, the sample sizes in these studies are too small to be able to compare such highly variable structures. The data presented here examining 500 skulls in the ossuary within les catacombes de Paris has revealed that Wormian bone occur in about 85% of skulls examined. This contrasts with most published studies that report incidences in the 10‐20% range. Les catacombes de Parisare believed to contain remains mostly from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. While there may be bones from earlier times, it is likely that these are fragile and fragmentary, and thus almost certainly do not contribute to the accessible visible walls of bones. These results are compared to surveys of skulls in three Italian collections: Museo di Anatomia umanaat Luigi Rolando dell'Università di Torino, Museo di Antropologiaat Università degli Studi di Padova,and Museo di Storia Naturale Sezione di Antropologia e Etnologia di Firenze, and in the only two known medieval English church ossuaries, in Hythe and Rothwell. The Italian collections represent Europeans, most if not all from late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the English skulls are presumed to be from the 13th and14th centuries. Wormian bones were found slightly more frequently in les catacombes de Paris than the other sites, but in each as well as all taken together, the incidence is significantly higher than is commonly reported for skulls from other parts of the world. The sample size of each of these studies individually, as well as in composite, is a very large. This large sample size further increases the credibility of these data. These findings expand the data set for comparison of Wormian bones from different parts of Europe and to peoples from other regions of the world, thus serving the greater community by providing a large baseline against which smaller sample groups may be compared. Additionally, the photographic evidence collected in this project may be used to support further research in human anatomical variation.