Deer antlers are deciduous bony structures that develop from permanent frontal outgrowths, the pedicles. While growth and bone architecture of antlers have been studied in greater detail, information on pedicle formation and structure is scarce. The present study provides information on the structure of pedicle and hard antler bone in the European roe deer. A pronounced seasonal variation in pedicle architecture was observed, with high porosity around antler casting and a very compact bone structure during the hard antler stage. These observations suggest a corresponding marked variation also in the biomechanical properties of the pedicles. The seasonally alternating extensive resorption and formation processes make the pedicles of older deer heavily remodeled structures. Pedicles increase in thickness by apposition of primary bone that subsequently becomes replaced by secondary osteons. The antler cortex of roe deer is largely composed of a tubular framework of woven bone trabeculae with some remnants of mineralized cartilage, and primary osteons that have filled in the intertrabecular spaces. Secondary osteons are scarce, denoting little remodeling in antlers, which can be related to their short lifespan. The occurrence of cement lines around primary osteons indicates resorption on the trabecular scaffold prior to infilling of the intertrabecular spaces. The outer cortex showed a higher autofluorescence and a more immature structure than the main cortex, suggesting that it was secondarily formed by periosteal activity. Pedicles and antlers constitute a functional entity, and future histological and/or biomechanical studies should therefore consider both components of the cranial appendages.

Ear ossicles have thus far received little attention in biological anthropology. For the use of these bones as a source of biological information, it is important to know how reproducibly they can be measured. We determined inter-observer errors for measurements recorded by two observers on mallei (N ¼ 119) and incudes (N ¼ 124) obtained from human skeletons recovered from an early medieval cemetery in southern Germany. Measurements were taken on-screen on images of the bones obtained with a digital microscope. In the case of separately acquired images, mean inter-observer error ranged between 0.50 and 9.59% (average: 2.63%) for malleus measurements and between 0.67 and 7.11% (average: 2.01%) for incus measurements. Coefficients of reliability ranged between 0.72 and 0.99 for the malleus measurements and between 0.61 and 0.98 for those of the incus. Except for one incus measurement, readings performed by the two observers on the same set of photographs produced lower inter-observer errors and higher coefficients of reliability than the method involving separate acquisition of images by the observers. Across all linear measurements, absolute inter-observer error was independent of the mean size of the measured variable for both bones. So far, studies on human ear ossicles have largely neglected the issue of measurement error and its potential implication for the interpretation of the data. Knowledge of measurement error is of special importance if results obtained by different researchers are combined into a single database. It is, therefore, suggested that the reproducibility of measurements should be addressed in all future studies of ear ossicles. Anat Rec, 293:2094Rec, 293: -2106

Mastoiditis is a disease that follows otitis media and may lead to severe endocranial complications. Most studies on mastoiditis and middle ear diseases in archaeological skeletal remains are based on radiological investigations. The following study describes the morphological changes in the pneumatised cells of the mastoid process due to mastoiditis in archaeological skeletal remains, based on macroscopic, endoscopic, light and scanningelectron microscopic investigations. For the purposes of this study, we used an early medieval Frankish population from Dirmstein, State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.