How the human neck became a locus of power, beauty and frailty

By Kent Dunlap, Professor of Biology, Trinity College

I broke its neck.

When making a vase at the potter’s wheel, I torqued its slippery neck clear off the pot as I tried to thin it into a graceful curve.

I find vases gratifying to make and their shapes especially pleasing to the eye. But vases also must be handled with particular care because one part of their “body” – the neck – is often so narrow that it can be easily broken.

That day at the wheel, I realized that it was not unlike the human neck. Though only a small portion of the human body – about…

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