Mann R W
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
J Forensic Sci. 1993 Jan;38(1):151-5.
Siding and sequencing (that is, putting in anatomical order) human ribs are essential to the proper examination and documentation of injuries to the chest. The paucity of information regarding sequencing nonfleshed human ribs makes it particularly difficult for physical anthropologists and medicolegal authorities to differentiate the midthoracic ribs. It was found that ribs could be accurately sequenced without the aid of a comparative skeleton using such features as maximum (relative) rib length, the size and shape of the articular facets, the distance between the articular facets and rib angle, and the height of the rib heads relative to one another.
