Theropod Hand Orientation

["Ivan Kwan" <dino_rampage@hotmail.com>]

I've been a little perplexed lately by many dinosaur reconstructions.

I can remember that in Greg Paul's PDW, all his theropod reconstructions 
showed the hands being orinetated so that the palms faced backwards. 
However, recently, I've found that the majority of maniraptor restorations 
show the wrist being rotated so that palms face inwards instead of 
backwards. Is this because of the recent discussions on the movement of the 
wrists? Does this mean that maniraptors like oviraptorosaurs, dromaeosaurs & 
troodontids could not swivel their hands into the position where all 3 
fingers point in the way the Velociraptors in JP did?

And what about tyrannosaurs? Were they capable of moving their wrists so 
that their palms could face backward? I've seen plenty of tyrannosaur 
reconstructions showing their fingers extended forwards ina sideways 'V' 
formation. Were they capable of assuming both positions?

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