Secular change of sexually dimorphic cranial variables in Euro-Americans and Germans

Abstract

Crania are a reliable source for sex estimation in Euro-Americans, Europeans, and most other populations. Besides morphological assessments, the application of Fordisc® has become a useful tool within the last two decades, creating discriminant functions from morphometric data. Unfortunately, until now, white populations are mostly represented by measurements of American individuals. Therefore, classification rates are lower for European skulls than for Euro-Americans. The aim of this study was to show differences in sexual dimorphism between German and Euro-American crania. Furthermore, their secular change from the nineteenth to the twentieth century has been investigated. Analyses have been performed on glabella subtense (GLS), mastoid height (MDH), and bizygomatic breadth (ZYB). Fordisc® 3.1 was used to study sexual dimorphism and secular change, whereas SAS® was used to perform a two-level ANOVA to test for variation in sex dimorphism. Euro-Americans show greater dimorphism than Germans in all three measurements tested. This larger difference is even increasing from the late nineteenth through the late twentieth century in terms of GLS and MDH, while it stays almost the same in the present Europeans. These results explain the unsatisfying classification rates of German and other European crania on Fordisc®. Data collection for European Fordisc® samples is in progress and should improve the current situation.

A Decision Tree for Nonmetric Sex Assessment from the Skull

“…One advantage to this decision tree for forensic application is that it was developed on a modern sample (the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection) as opposed to the late 19th and early 20th century U.S. populations and 18th century British population used in previous analyses . Secular change in cranial dimensions in U.S. skeletons has been documented extensively in the literature with warnings that methods developed from nonmodern anatomical collections may not be applicable to modern samples . Furthermore, recent research has documented a decrease in the size of glabella in males and females, an enlarged nuchal crest in modern females, and an overall increase in the sexual dimorphism of the supraorbital margin compared to earlier birth cohorts .…”

Effects of Multi-Generational Soft Diet Consumption on Mouse Craniofacial Morphology

“…Can exclusive and prolonged consumption of soft diets (SDs) alter our and our offsprings' craniofacial morphology? Human skulls have undergone morphological transformations over centuries with changes being most pronounced in areas associated with masticatory muscle attachments (Jantz, 2001;Godde, 2015;Manthey et al, 2017). Changes in human skull form (shape and size) have been associated with transition to softer diets, from ancestral hunter-gatherer culture to that of agriculture and farming (Larsen, 2006;Pinhasi et al, 2015).…”

Análise da variabilidade métrica dos parâmetros de Antropologia Forense para estimativa do sexo de duas populações: escocesa e brasileira

“…A existência da variabilidade craniométrica entre as mais variadas populações está bem estabelecida na literatura científica [26][27][28]31,[75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] , e é de suma importância o desenvolvimento de padrões analíticos específicos para cada localização geográfica.…”

“…As estruturas que apresentaram maior acurácia foram arco superciliares, glabela, processo mastoide e borda supraorbital. 30,81,[190][191][192][193] .…”