Hip bone Hip bone The hip bone (os coxa, innominate bone, pelvic bone or coxal bone) is a large flat bone, constricted in the center and expanded above and below. In some vertebrates (including humans before puberty) it is composed of three parts: the ilium, ischium, and the pubis. The two hip bones join at the pubic symphysis and together with the sacrum and coccyx (the pelvic part of the spine) comprise the skeletal component of the pelvis – the pelvic girdle which surrounds the pelvic cavity. They are connected to the sacrum, which is part of the axial skeleton, at the
Petrous part of the temporal bone highly degraded, and contaminated by DNA from soil microbes. In 2015 it was found, surprisingly, that the petrous bone has remarkably high preservation of DNA. A 2017 study comparing DNA from different skeletal sites concluded that "The inner part of petrous bones and the cementum layer in teeth roots are currently recognized as the best substrates for (ancient DNA) research...Both substrates display significantly higher endogenous DNA content (average of 16.4% and 40.0% for teeth and petrous bones, respectively) than parietal skull bone (average of 2.2%)." Consequently, petrous bones are now the most widely-used skeletal site for the study of ancient