Anatomical model
Our ontology does not include its own model of skeletal anatomy, but instead incorporates the Foundational Model of Anatomy. In order to reference an anatomical element or feature, just refer to the relevant element in this ontology. For elements that are not included in the FMA, elements from OpenGalen can be used as substitutions.
We do not document the entire FMA here, but just the elements contained in the subset created for the RDFBones core ontology. These are part of the following skeletal subdivisions:
On these pages, classes that refer to bone organs (i.e. specific bones in the human body) are listed without any special formatting. Formatted text has the following meanings:
Class names referring to structures composed of several bones are formatted in bold letters. For such a structure to be complete, all bone organs listed directly underneath its name need to be present and complete. If bone organs are defined to belong to such a structure, this implies that they also belong to the same individual skeletons. This is important when compiling skeletal inventories from commingled remains where it might be obvious that several bone organs belong together, though it is not known to which individual this cluster belongs.
Class names that are formatted in italics refer to superordinate groups of bones. These should only be used if a bone cannot be classified exactly. For example, if a vertebra is obviously a thoracic vertebra but a researcher is not sure which position within the thoracic vertebral column it took, it can be classified as 'Thoracic vertebra' instead of assigning a more specific class. Imprecise classes are listed below precise classes describing bone organs and structures made up of several bones. Their indentation within the list indicates whether they can be associated with a structure and on what level. For example, a vertebra classified just as 'Vertebra' can be associated with a specific individual of the class 'Vertebral column' but not with an individual of the class 'Sacrum'. An bone classified as 'sacral vertebra', on the other hand, can be associated with an individual of the class 'Sacrum' and if this individual, in turn, is associated with an individual of the class 'Vertebral column', this association is also true for the sacral vertebra.
Note that the Sacrum and the Coxxyx, with all their vertebrae, appear on both pages about the vertebral column and about the pelvic girdle. This is because they are both subclasses of the class 'Vertebral column' and 'Bony pelvis'.
The smallest entities of primary skeletal inventories are entire bone organs. More specialised skeletal inventories can be defined to refer to specific parts of and features on bone organs. Skeletal inventory extensions should include the referenced FMA classes that are not part of the core ontology subset.
