Human variation and non-metric traits

Question 1

What are non-metric traits?

Answer 1

Traits that cannot be measured

Also called: discrete traits, variants, epigenetic traits etc

Normal skeletal morphological variants

Recorded as present/absent

Present data as number observed compared to number
observable

Question 2

Cranial non-metric

Answer 2

Metopic suture

Question 3

Wormian bones

Answer 3

Intra sutural bones

Extra bones that occur
within sutures.

Most frequent in the
lambdoid and coronal
suture

Question 4

Torus

Answer 4

A torus is a doughnut-shaped surface or a rounded bony growth in the body

Most frequent in the palatine, mandible, and maxilla

Question 5

Human variation

Answer 5

Modern human populations show more similarities than differences.

Using genetic data or skeletal morphology, typically 85% of world-wide variation is
found within populations and 15% between populations.

Ancestry/population affinity assessment involves classification and statistical
methods and can maximize between-group variation to improve classification
rates.

When craniometric data or trait frequencies for groups are assessed, there is no
distinctive single trait that uniquely identifies any human group.

Question 6

People are grouped into..

Answer 6

Sex
Gender
Ancestry
Race

Question 7

Sex

Answer 7

Individuals grouped based on a particular component of
human biological variation

Question 8

Gender

Answer 8

Draws on both biological features but also cultural and
social features for defining difference between feminine and
masculine

Question 9

Ancestry

Answer 9

Individuals grouped based on a particular component
of human biological variation

Question 10

Race

Answer 10

Draws on both biological variation but also cultural and
social features

Question 11

Social ‘race’ and forensic anthropology

Answer 11

Social ‘race’ and ethnicity collected as basic demographic information

If the prediction from the skeleton agrees with how that person self-identified their ‘race’ in life and if there is diversity in the local population

Therefore, can social race be predicted from the skeleton

Question 12

Macromorphoscopic traits analysis

Answer 12

Macromorphoscopic traits are divided into five classes of
observations:
1) assessing bone shape
2) bony feature morphology
3) suture shape
4) presence or absence of a feature
5) feature prominence or protrusion