Like I need a hole in the head: supernumerary external auditory meatus in a Carthaginian cranium

✍ Scribed by D. A. Lukaszek; J. D. Irish; A. Balzeau; A. Froment

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 441 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1047-482X
• DOI: 10.1002/oa.1030

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Cranial anomalies vary in degree of expression. Although some are nominal i.e. slight in expression, other anomalies are quite striking in appearance. Such is the case in a cranium recovered from the archaeological site of Carthage in Tunisia. Based on observations during ongoing research by the second author, this specimen was seen to exhibit a twinned right external auditory meatus. Possible explanations for the presence of this anomaly are explored. Trauma and perhaps disease can likely be excluded; congenital or epigenetic variation is more of a probable cause. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.