"The Kukruse Memm (The Grandmother of Kukruse) refers to a thirteenth century woman from the Kukruse burial site in northeastern Estonia. This reconstruction is based on remains found in a well-preserved grave during archaeological excavations."
I have been trying to write this paper out so many times and the lack of funds to hire an editor/publish as well as getting this organized in a fashion that's considered proper for a scientific paper has caused me to hit so many walls, not including the learning disabilities that have made this worse to get this out. So i'm doing this to get what information i've been gathering since 2018.
looking at young corvid images of their open mouth, they had a lip area in their mouth that the upper beak would overlap and lay in perfectly, this is what started me down the road along with noticing the formina on the sides of theropod faces matched that of goose skulls I saw online. As I had no access to actual specimens in person.
feeling as though waterfowl specimens were the easiest to obtain(they were actually more difficult than thought) as well as being closer to dinosaurs on the evolutionary tree next to ratites, and even living along dinosaurs during the late cretaceous ie presbyornis, they seemed to be the best to study for this.
After obtaining a pair of peking duck and an african goose, from some local farmers that donated them, they were dissected and preserved using techniques learned from taxidermy for study. The specimens had one side of their bills removed while leaving the skin intact on the otherside. One of the peking ducks kept the tissue on both sides, while only one side had the top layer of the epidermis removed, exposing the harder dermis underneath. A noticeable attribute was that before preservation the bills were plump and didn't show any texturing, except for the goose around the back nearest to the corner of the mouth. Once preserved however, the skin on the bills shrank, revealing grooves and texturing where nerves and blood vessels would run.
The sensory organs and nerves that ran in the bills were observed using a candlelight method/ie holding them up to the light.
Tyrannosaurus Juvenile Jane specimen for comparison
The deep grooves and formina on the bill, as well as the formina and grooves that are seen in T.Rex have many similarities, which was the main focus of this study as they're are numerous studies pertaining to their sensory organs. Also something to compare is that there is a distinct row of formina that's more prominent on older crocodiles and alligators along the dentiary similar to that of T.Rex, on both the top and bottom row of the mandibles.
saltwater crocodile head from crocodiledarwin.com and alligator from encyclopediaofarkansas.net
komodo dragon profile view(comparing formina)
Though waterfowl having lamillae cannot be used to compare enamel ware. While crocodiles and alligators have teeth, but are known for not having lips, have ware and tare on their teeth than animals like monitor lizards that have lips as shown in this study using a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex to prove they had some form of lip to protect their tooth enamel.
Science | AAAS
Another observation is that in alligators the bottom row of dentary is tucked under the upper mandible and covered more than in crocodilians. It would be interesting to see the tooth study done with other teeth on both animals, as some of the posterior dentary on the upper mandible can sometimes be seen tucking away in a pocket of skin as protection in some alligators.
Also looking at neonatal alligators shows a depression in the lower jaw area that the upper dentary could sit in, almost as though their reminants of lips
neonatal alligator from natgeo on alligator facial mechanoreceptors
and while alligators and crocodilians seem to have scaling on their face this is just thickened sensitive skin with cracked texturing imitating scales. Bills on waterfowl are also thickened as this allows them to forage in merky waters and plants without damaging their bills. While both animals have thickened skin on their manidbles, it is still a very sensitive part of their body that they use to navigate and explore/manipulate their environment as well as interact with other of their species. While reptiles have less sensitivity and do not share these organs along their faces(the skin sense organ of some iguanian lizards). This could be also a lack of information on the anatomy of reptile skulls and facial structures that could be expanded more for comparison.
However there was a study done on the facial sensitivity of Tyrannosaurus along with alligators
See Complex Neurovascular system in the dentary of Tyrannosaurus
See Despite their thick skins, alligators and crocodiles are surprisingly touchy
and while it took awhile to find and make available, there had been a paper written on a very similar organ within the bills of waterfowl, namely mallard ducks.
See The Morphology and Distribution of Cutaneous Mechanoreceptors(Herbst and Grandry Corpuscles in Bill and Tongue of the Mallard)
And while Monitor lizards and other reptiles share a similar formina pattern, they lack the textured grooves and sensitive organs archosaurs and certain avians share, as well as other anatomical features of moniotor lizard skulls that they share more closely with other reptiles and snakes than they do with the archosaurians and avians.
komodo dragon skull ventral view
Alligator(left) Crocodile(right) ventral views of skulls
Peking Duck skull with bill skin(ventral view)
T.Rex skull ventral view
another observation in many reptile skulls is how the upper and lower dentary interact. While some had teeth that overlapped the lower mandible, there seemed to be somewhere that the teeth met, either at the anterior end of the skull or continually all around, in monitors there was some sort of gap at the anterior portion of the dentary to make way for the tongue to be able to slide in and out without being obstructed too much while allowing the mouth to stay closed. Where as archosaurs and avians the two overlapped one another allowing for a scissoring affect with the teeth, the most noticeable being the anterior end of the mandibles. And while waterfowl lack the dentary that archosaurs and reptiles have, the lamillae still slide past one another similar to what's observed in many theropods, even in non avian dinosaurs. The thought of bone to tooth contact is considered as well, and there can be a sizeable closure without the need for the amount of soft tissue observed in reptiles.
proposed crocodilian like contact of tooth on mandible(top), proposed soft tissue similar to that of monitor lizards(bottom left), new proposed soft tissue without scaled lips(bottom right)
Having soft tissued lips that is similar to that of a waterfowls bill allows for the mechanosensory corpusicules to interact as well as still allows for protection of the tooth enamel.
The way their upper dentary line up with their lower mandibular formina seems to follow the same pattern, compared to reptiles that didn't curve upwards towards the anterior portion of the lower mandible. There's also a possibility of having a nail, like waterfowl, or some large scale, like many other reptiles with dentary, at the anterior ends of the upper and lower manible. This is due to the amount of formina clustering in a pattern like structure similarly seen in both waterfowl and reptiles.
These observations and studies allowed for an idea of how to reconstruct Tyrannosaurus Rex
Juvenile Jane Tyannosaurus Rex skull, with open and closed mouth(top) and reconstructions
Even constructing a physical reconstruction to better observe how the lips and teeth would interact.
Paper mache head reconsturction done in a similar manner to the duck and goose specimens used in this study
Also when reconstructing, and also accounting for tooth slippage, there was an issue with a sizable gap at the anterior end with the front dentary when closing the jaws when attempting to imitate the mouth closing similar to that of previous reconstructions using reptile lips, where as with the more waterfowl skin reconstruction there was less of an issue and also less of an overhanging bottom lip.
Pages from personal study notes
There was also the issue of either exposing the jaw muscles similar to how crocodilians, alligators, and other reptiles are observed to have, or to cover it in skin like birds. One of the arguments is that the mouth wouldn't be able to open to the extent allosaurians and tyrannosaurus are able to open their mouths. When there are several avian species with skin over the area that can very well open their mouths just as wide, ie Bell Birds, which have a widened jugal bone like that of tyrannosaurus.
Young tyrannosaurus specimen(chomper)
Also to note, in most reconstructions where there is a bony knob on the jugal, circled in the above example, is more than likely a muscle attachment point, and the divet in the space before the attachment point could allow for the corner of the lips to sit.
In conclusion, Tyrannosaurus Rex and possible other theropod dinosaurs with similar skull anatomy of the upper and lower mandibles more than likely had thickened yet sensitive skin with a lip like structure similar to that of waterfowl and not a scaled skin.
Additional research papers on duck bill anatomy/mechanreceptors
Histomorphogenesis of Upper Beak in Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moschata)
3D architecture and a bicellular mechanism of touch detection in mechanosensory corpuscle
Molecular basis of tactile specialization in the duck bill
no, it doesn't really matter if cartoons misrepresent dinosaurs. Almost like most people don't really spend their time critiquing them (I certainly don't, unless someone asks me to, and then it's cause they asked)
The representation of dinosaurs and the deep past actually does matter, because it completely disproves the founding myths of society that have lead to climate change and environmental destruction. I can explain why, but I'm trying to be brief.
If you really think that paleontologists who use social media - ie, all of them, because unfortunately online science communication is now a mandatory part of being a scientist - want to spend all their time critiquing dinosaur designs, you are very, very, very wrong
Thinking that living things matter more than dead things is so illogical (everything living one day becomes dead. the past matters) that it sounds like a twelve year old whining about studying for their bar mitzvah.
Misinformation of any kind is bad and you should be against it. Acting like some is okay while others aren't is just... picking and choosing favorites. Way to be consistent.
Sunday Steve - Day 13.5: What Did a Tenement Look Like?
As a follow up to my tenement building post, I've done my best to find a collection of photos to show what apartments Steve lived in could have looked like. As I mentioned in my earlier Sunday Steve post, a lot of tenement pictures were taken specifically because of the poor conditions, so I tried to find pictures that would show a side of tenements we might not usually see.
Tenement playground, circa 1900-1937 (Link)
Contemporary photos
Interior stairwell, 1937. (Link)
Look at the wallpaper! Also I can just imagine children playing in that nook there, using it like a fort or something.
Interior between 1900 and 1910. (Link)
Look at all the pictures on the walls, the patterned and no doubt colourful table cloth and the decorative elements of the stove! This apartment looks like it has a gas stove and lights.
(part of me does wonder if this photo was staged to some extent, perhaps to advertise the new laws going in (?), but that's only a theory.)
Kitchen interior with sink and icebox, 1935. (Link)
You can see the draped curtains, the mirror above the sink and the cloth on top of the fridge. The shelf with all the jars has been recovered with a decorative trim and the floor is patterned linoleum.
Family at kitchen table in a dumb-bell tenement, circa 1935. Note the angled kitchen window by the stove looking into an air shaft. (Link)
(The Barnes family anyone?) Again, patterned, clean floors, a gas stove, what may be a folded up bed in the left-hand upper corner. Five toothbrushes above the sink, a mirror above the shelf, the trim on the shelf itself. I think the dark thing next to the boxes in the lower right-hand corner might be a toy pram.
Interior view of dressing table and toilet, 1936. (Link)
Typical small toilet, probably built after the New Law required them. Note the pretty framed photo of religious figures on top of the dressing table, what I think is an electric curling iron next to it, and the sculpting details of the wall pillar.
Reconstruction
But black and white photos don't give us a full idea of what things would be like. Luckily, there is Tenement Museum in Manhattan that has 1910 and 1930 Old Law restored tenement apartments.
Outside of museum and stairs leading up. (Link)
This tenement is 5 floors, which is standard for Old Law. New Law tenements were often higher. The tenement, like many tenements, had a store front on the street level.
If you look carefully you can see the tin-plated ceilings. Note how you can see a painting on the wall across from the stairs. In the tour they discuss how these were people's homes and they decorated them and were proud of them too.
Images of a 1910 style apartment. (Link) (Link)
These tenements are 3 rooms, bedroom, kitchen and parlour. Note the bed in the kitchen where Steve could've slept. This could also be a place for a crib for a baby. These apartments have shared toilets in the halls that were for two families.
Also look at the green and red walls! So much colour! And the pictures hung on the walls! There's a rug on the floor, doilies and a cushion on the couch, a patterned curtain behind the door... I wanted to highlight the homeyness.
Kitchen of 1930s style apartment. (Link) (Link)
With these photos you can see the three rooms of this tenement. A small bedroom by the front door, a kitchen and a living room past it. The apartments for this building were electrified in 1924, so they have lights, and a radio and an electric fan in the living room.
The apartment had coin operated gas, which could be the black box on the wall by the front door. The gas also connects to a water heater for this apartment which can't really be seen, but it is connected to the stove.
The built in shelves by the table was custom built by the father of the family living here. Residents often painted or wallpapered their space when moving in to make it their own. According to the Tenement Museum, linoleum flooring was really common, and you can see how this apartment has linoleum designed to look like a rug.
Living room and bedroom of the same 1930 apartment. (Link) (Link)
The living room isn't very staged, I'm not sure why since I haven't taken the tour. There is a disassembled bed frame against the left wall, so it's possible a bed is usually set up in this room for the parents. Also the former resident of the apartment said it was sparsely furnished, so they may be trying to recreate that.
The ice box for this family is kept on the fire escape, which is not shown.
In the window of the living room you can see green plants. These are morning glories the father planted in re-purposed cheese boxes. According to the former resident, they got the cheese through welfare aid, and cheese always seemed to be in surplus from that program. The apartment has electricity and there is an electric fan on on the dresser with the mirror.
The second photo shows the bedroom, which is that angled room next to the front door in the kitchen. The red cloth covered thing in is a bed that was shared by two siblings and folded up and covered every day.
Look at all the colour! The patterned linoleum floors! The climbing flowers in the living room window! The radio in the nook by the kitchen table! These places were not dreary and brown just because they were old or cheap.
Recollections from the previous resident:
Rosaria [her mother] decorated the apartment by draping fabrics everywhere: lacy curtains at the windows, coverlets in the beds, skirts across the shelving that Adolfo [her father] built into the walls. The family kept birds as pets. They cultivated flowers; morning glories twined at the window. The radio played, day and night, as they laughed with Amos and Andy, hummed along with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, and followed the puzzling, upper-middle-class lives of One Man's Family. (Link)
Also, when the previous resident came back to see the tenement museum of her childhood apartment, she noted that the place was messier than her mother ever kept it, so they fixed that. Tenements could be very clean and well kept, especially since cleanliness and health were something people judged.
I really wanted to show that while small and cheap, Steve’s apartments would have still been full of life and colour.
Tenement Museum hall toilet, circa 1904-1935 (Link)
I don't know what time period the museum has this toilet as, but you can see how small it was, and also that it has bright yellow walls!
This toilet has a leaflet of papers on the back wall, probably for toilet paper. As my toilet paper post discussed, toilet paper became more common with indoor plumbing due to clogged pipes and such, so I imagine this is early 1900s. I'm fairly certain Steve would be used to using toilet paper!
What's with all the indoor windows?
A lot of Old Law tenements have windows leading from one room to another. These are for airflow and light. They are also a sneaky way the landlords tried to get around the law that every room had to have a window. The New Law later required the windows to actually have access outside.
These windows are also known as tuberculosis windows. While they may have been a cop-out by landlords, they were still intended to improve airflow and light in narrow tenements which would otherwise have only one outward facing window.
I hope this overview gave you a broader understanding of what tenements could look like and some appreciation of the ways people brightened up their homes.
Many more tenement pictures found here:
The influence of the New York City tenement is layered upon the city much like the apartments themselves are layered atop each other.
This link has a lot more interior shots, but also some with homicide victims (!), so approach at your own risk.
This link has more images of the Tenement Museum, showing other bedrooms from different eras and different tenement rooms. While some are styled as late 1890s era apartments, they still reflect what rooms and life would and could have looked like.
