A Morphometric Outline Analysis of Ancestry and Sex Differences in Cranial Shape
Abstract
Forensic anthropological techniques that utilize nonmetric cranial traits to estimate sex and ancestry have historically been criticized for their subjectivity and qualitative nature. Nonmetric traits, however, continue to be valuable tools in identifying remains in forensic investigations. In this study, geometric morphometric analyses of cranial outlines were performed to quantitatively assess population and sex variation in modern human cranial shapes and to verify group differences in previously reported qualitative traits. Elliptical Fourier analysis was conducted on two-dimensional images of the left lateral, posterior, and superior cranial views from 198 U.S. Black and White crania. Results reveal significant sex and population differences in cranial shape that generally coincide with traditional qualitative descriptions. Although sex classification was relatively low (70.2%), ancestry classification was higher (92.4%), indicating that outline analyses that incorporate multiple nonmetric traits into a single statistical analysis may provide a more objective and accurate means of ancestry classification.
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2D GMM is increasingly recognized as useful for quantifying full 2D shapes of biological and archaeological objects, especially in cranial morphology.
“Although 2D GMM is not a commonly utilized practice among biological anthropologists, its usefulness for quantifying the full 2D shapes of biological and archaeological objects, especially in the study of cranial morphology, is increasingly being recognized [49, 50].”
From Investigating intentional cranial modification: A hybridized two-dimensional/three-dimensional study of the Hirota site, Tanegashima, Japan (2023) · cites this paper as [50]
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Seguchi, N., Loftus, J. F., Yonemoto, S., & Murphy, M.-M. (2023) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0289219 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Although 2D GMM is not a commonly utilized practice among biological anthropologists, its usefulness for quantifying the full 2D shapes of biological and archaeological objects, especially in the study of cranial morphology, is increasingly being recognized [49, 50].”
Background
- Authors
- Murphy, R. E., & Garvin, H. M.
- Affiliations
- Mercyhurst University (US)
- Des Moines University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Murphy, Rachel E.
- ORCID
- Garvin, Heather M.
- Venue
- Journal of Forensic Sciences
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-11-28
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1001-1009
- ISSN
- 0022-1198 (ISSN-L)
- 1556-4029
- OpenAlex
- W2768576051
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 15.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Forensic Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Adobe Systems
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
- Keywords
- head shape, ancestry estimation, sex estimation, geometric morphometrics, elliptic Fourier analysis, population variation, forensic identification
- MeSH terms
- Black or African American, Female, Fourier Analysis, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Skull, Software, United States, Forensic Anthropology, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Principal Component Analysis, White People, Sex Determination by Skeleton
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