The value of infracranial nonmetric variation in studies of modernHomo sapiens: An Australian focus

Abstract

The value of quantitative infracranial nonmetric variation is examined in the study of population relationships by using samples from populations originating from five major geographic regions: Australia (two populations), Africa, East Asia, Europe, and Polynesia. According to the nonspecificity hypothesis, there are no distinct large classes of genes affecting one group of attributes exclusively; thus infracranial nonmetric traits should compare with other osteologic data sets in addressing questions of population relationships. By using the mean measure of divergence, infracranial nonmetric traits are shown to be useful in separating populations, particularly when using female and pooled-sex samples. The two Australian female samples (New South Wales coastal Australian and South Australian Aboriginals) are shown to be closer than any other two samples. The picture of intrapopulation and interpopulation variation in infracranial nonmetric traits is extended and clarified. Distance studies with infracranial nonmetric traits are possible but more illuminating if the sexes are first separated. Infracranial nonmetric variation does extend the knowledge of human population studies in yielding biologically meaningful results relating to development and ontogeny.

Discrete Traits of the Sternum and Ribs: A Useful Contribution to Identification in Forensic Anthropology and Medicine

“…All foramina found in our population lay in the sternal body. We found a frequency of 5%, which is the same as that in other populations except for that of Saunders , where frequency was 2.2–10%.…”

“…All three parameters are not always involved at the same time. For example, frequency of the sternal foramen is similar for all populations (3,9,16), but its association with sex differs (8,21).…”

“…Developmental fusion of two ribs may also be present . Previous studies have shown that frequency and association with a sex or a side are population dependent .…”

Population continuity vs. discontinuity revisited: Dental affinities among late Paleolithic through Christian‐era Nubians

“…"It is all but certain that these phenotypic [dental] patterns reflect underlying genetic variation" (Rightmire, 1999, p. 2); therefore, it is assumed that any phenetic similarity approximates or is an estimate of genetic relatedness (Scott et al, 1983). Of the numerous distance statistics available, the author and many others (e.g., Berry and Berry, 1972;Sjøvold, 1973Sjøvold, , 1977Greene, 1982;Scott et al, 1983;Turner, 1984Turner, , 1985aKonigsberg, 1990;Turner and Markowitz, 1990;Lukacs and Hemphill, 1991;Ishida and Dodo, 1997;Irish, 1997Irish, , 1998aIrish, -d, 2000Donlon, 2000;Jackes et al, 2001 have used two with equal success: the Mahalanobis D 2 statistic for discrete traits as derived by Konigsberg (1990; see also Konigsberg et al, 1993;Bedrick et al, 2000), and C.A.B. Smith's mean measure of divergence (Berry and Berry, 1967;Sjøvold, 1973Sjøvold, , 1977Green and Suchey, 1976).…”

Non‐metric variation of the middle phalanges of the human toes (II–V): long/short types and their evolutionary significance

“…The study of non‐metric variants (= non‐metric traits = discrete traits = discontinuous morphological traits = epigenetic variants) often provides original informative data on the significance of morphological particularities and evolutionary processes, particularly in skeletal and dental elements; moreover, it has been shown to be useful in gauging the affinities of extinct human population (Berry & Berry, ; Berry, ; El‐Najjar & McWilliams, ; Finnegan, ; Hauser & De Stefano, ; Scott & Turner, ; Donlon, ; Tyrrell, ; Haniara and Ishida ,b,c; Saunders & Rainey, ). Pfitzner (, ) was among the first to study systematically non‐metric variants of the foot based on extensive anatomical series (dried bones).…”