3D Visualization of the Human Bony Labyrinth within the Temporal Bone of a Subadult

Data description: Introduction: The dataset consists of a 10 seconds video showing a transparent human temporal bone with its segmented inner ear (bony labyrinth) overlaid and highlighted in magenta. The visualization improves comprehension of the inner ear’s anatomical location and spatial orientation within the petrous portion of the temporal bone, including its precise position and alignment. It provides a clear reference for educational purposes and facilitates more accurate analyses in anatomical research, clinical practice, and related fields. The temporal bone belongs to a female subadult (ID = N5) recovered from the archaeological site of Natania in Mendoza, Argentina. Natania, which was excavated in 2015 as part of a contract archaeology project, is a multiple primary burial with the remains of eight individuals ranging from newborns to adults and including men and women. The site was formed in a brief period centered around 600 cal years BP, and it is possible that the burial was formed in only one depositional event. Isotopic results suggest the presence of mixed diets combining C4 and C3 plants and animals. While farming may have likely provided a part of the subsistence base, it was not intensive, and hunting and gathering of wild species would have still been significant. Age at death (1,5–2 years) was estimated based on tooth eruption stages, following the criteria established by AlQahtani (2010), as well as the length of the femur, tibia, fibula, radius, and humerus, following the guidelines by Scheuer and Black (2000). Both tooth eruption and long bone length are reliable indicators of chronological age in subadults. Sex determination corresponds to chromosomal sex, inferred by comparing the ratio between the Depth of Coverage (DoC) observed for sex chromosomes (X and Y) and the DoC for autosomal chromosomes. This approach allows for distinguishing between XX and XY karyotypes based on genome-wide sequencing data (Skoglund et al., 2013). Additionally, this individual presents cribra femoralis on the posterior surface of the neck of the left femur (Ortner, 2003).The individual is currently housed at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales y Antropológicas “Juan Cornelio Moyano” in Mendoza, Argentina. The imaging data were generated from micro-CT (µCT) scans conducted by LPM using a Skyscan 1176 Bruker microCT scanner at the Faculty of Medicine, Paris Diderot University, as part of the Post-PhD Research Grant “Human Endocranial Variation in the Southern Cone: Implications for the Peopling of South America” (Grant No. 9708, Wenner-Gren Foundation). The µCT scans were segmented by CR using 3D Slicer v. 4.11 to create a 3D model of the inner ear. MCLS then produced the video with the 3D models of the inner ear and the scanned temporal bone using 3D Slicer Preview Release v. 5.9.0 (Fedorov et al., 2012; Rolfe et al., 2021; https://www.slicer.org). Data table of contents: Type: MP4; Function: Visualize the spatial position and anatomical location of the inner ear within the temporal bone; Quantity: 1. Methodology: The µCT scans were acquired using the following parameters: voxel size of 35 µm, 0.5 mm aluminum filter, exposure time of 132 milliseconds, voltage of 65 kV, and current of 393 µA. The video was created using the open source 3D Slicer software with the SlicerMorph extension. The bony labyrinth was manually segmented using the Segment Editor module, and the temporal bone was segmented by applying the threshold function of the same module. Both 3D models were produced using the Model Maker module. The models were then superimposed in the 3D View window and the opacity of the temporal bone was changed to 0.05 in the Models module. Finally, the video was generated in the Animator module with the CameraRotationAction, setting a rotation rate of 36.00 degrees per second, a 640x480 animation size and a H.264 format. Dataset organization and naming: 1 video MP4. Data quality: The µCT data have a voxel size of 35 µm. Data value: Visualizing the 3D reconstruction of the inner ear within the temporal bone enhances our understanding of its anatomical location, spatial orientation, precise position and alignment. References: AlQahtani, S.J., Liversidge, H.M., & Hector, M.P. (2010). Atlas of tooth development and eruption. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 142, 481–490 Fedorov, A., Beichel, R., Kalpathy-Cramer, J., Finet, J., Fillion-Robin, J. C., Pujol, S., ... & Kikinis, R. (2012). 3D Slicer as an image computing platform for the Quantitative Imaging Network. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 30(9), 1323-1341. Ortner, D. (2003). Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains. Academic Press. Rolfe, S., Pieper, S., Porto, A., Diamond, K., Winchester, J., Shan, S., … & Maga, A. M. (2021). SlicerMorph: An open and extensible platform to retrieve, visualize and analyze 3D morphology. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12, 1816–1825. Scheuer, L., & Black, S. (2000). Development and ageing of the juvenile skeleton. In M. Cox & S. Mays (Eds.), Human Osteology in Archaeology and Forensic Science (2nd ed. pp. 9-22). Cambridge University Press. Skoglund, P., Storå, J., Götherström, A., & Jakobsson, M. (2013). Accurate sex identification of ancient human remains using DNA shotgun sequencing. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(12), 4477-4482. Funding: This project was made possible by two grants awarded to LPM by the Wenner-Gren Foundation: a Post-PhD Research Grant “Human Endocranial Variation in the Southern Cone: Implications for the Peopling of South America” (Grant N° 9708) and a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship “Prick Your Ears: The Contribution of Inner Ear Variation to the Peopling of South America Debate” (Grant N° 10755). Genomic research was financed by the following grants awarded to NR: European Research Council ERC-2020-STG “PaleoMetAmerica” (Grant N° 948800), Institut Pasteur and CNRS UMR funding, INCEPTION program (Investissement d’Avenir Grant ANR-16-CONV-0005). We would also like to thank the HPC Core Facility of Institut Pasteur (IP) for their support for computational analyses and Marc Monot, Laurence Motreff and Florence Jagorel from the IP Biomics Platform (supported by France Génomique ANR-10-INBS-09-09 and IBISA) for their assistance in sample sequencing. (2025-04-23)