Hip disarticulation of the human
Hip disarticulation of the human. Postmortem
surgery with transection of the LCF in humans 15-12.5 thousand years ago.
Presumably, the first postmortem arthrotomy of the hip joint with disarticulation was performed in Morocco 15.000-12.500 years ago. This is confirmed by multiple cuts on the femoral neck of a man from the burial of Taf V-18 (Taforalt Iberomaurusian necropolis). «The cuts on the femoral neck were produced by severing the ligaments of the articular capsula in order to disarticulate the bone from the pelvis. There are no pelvic bones in the grave.» (2016MariottiV_CondemiS:Fig.2). We counted more than a dozen longitudinal, fairly deep cuts in the middle part of the femoral neck. Their length varies from about two to ten millimeters and occupies a surface of 1 cm along the length of the femoral neck and 2 cm in width.
The mentioned cuts on the cortical plate and the absence of pelvic bones in the burial are evidence of the disarticulation of the femur. The specialist who performed its posthumous disarticulation could have seen the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF). He either cut the LCF with a stone knife or tore it off (ruptured) by rotating the leg. The purpose of the operation undertaken on the dead body is unclear. It seems to us that the «pathologist» saw an intact LCF in the deceased tribesman during the intervention. The need for cutting contributed to the operator's awareness of its connecting function.
References
Mariotti V, Belcastro MG, Condemi S. From corpse to bones: funerary rituals of the Taforalt Iberomaurusian population. Bulletins et Memoires de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris. 2016;28(1-2)60-5. [academia.edu]
Marsh WA, Bello S. Cannibalism and burial in the late Upper Palaeolithic: combining archaeological and genetic evidence. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2023;319:108309. [sciencedirect.com]
Keywords
ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, homo sapiens, disarticulation, operation, intersection, transection, observation
Change history
On February
13, 2025, a correction (addition) was made to this article.
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to Arkhipov Sergey, M.D., E-mail: archipovsv @gmail.com
The original text in Russian is available at the link: Экзартикуляция бедра человека
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