U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Metric Ancestry Estimation from the Postcranial Skeleton

NCJ Number
310748
Date Published
2014
Length
12 pages
Abstract

Ancestry estimation is a key component when analyzing skeletal remains and, typically, one must estimate ancestry prior to sex and stature because of the population-specic nature of sexual dimorphism. Walker (2008) demonstrated that when using cranial nonmetric traits for sex estimation via discriminant function analyses, one must use population-specic data. Stature estimation methods are oen considered population-specic (Frutos 2003; Jantz, Kimmerle, and Baraybar 2008; Jantz and Ousley 2005; Kimmerle et al. 2008; Walker 2008) because sexual dimorphism in limb proportions may be expressed dierently within a single population group (Holliday and Falsetti 1999). To date, there have been many published methods of ancestry estimation using both metric and nonmetric data (Giles 1970; Finnegan 1978; Gill and Rhine 1990; Holliday and Falsetti 1999; Jantz and Ousley 2005; Anderson 2008; Wescott and Srikanta 2008). e cranium is thought to provide the best estimator of ancestry because of the heritability of craniofacial morphology (Howells 1973; Devor 1987; Perez, Bernal, and Gonzalez 2007; Hajek, Cerny, and Bruzek 2008). Although research in secular change in the craniofacial complex has been demonstrated (Angel 1976; Smith, Garn, and Hunter 1986; Cameron et al. 1990; Jantz and Meadows Jantz 2000; Jantz 2001), Relethford (2004) pointed out that it does not obscure the underlying genetic structure.

(Publisher abstract provided.)

Date Published: January 1, 2014