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A Statistical Technique for Classifying Human Skeletal Remains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

T. W. McKern  and
E. H. Munro
T. W. McKern
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin, Tex.
E. H. Munro
Affiliation:
Quartermaster Research and Engineering Center, Natick, Mass.
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Extract

Arecurring question posed to the physical anthropologist by his archaeological associates concerns the problem of properly classifying new skeletal finds within the framework of a known local prehistory. An analysis may result which is initially purely quantitative. However, problems demanding interpretation often develop. For example, when the physical characteristics of prehistoric populations have been metrically described, their industrial accomplishments outlined, and their place in time fairly well established, the problem of spatial distribution becomes a primary interest. The discovery of skeletal material, peripheral to the known area of occupation, must be explained either as an addition to the known biological pattern or as representing a foreign element.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 24 , Issue 4Part1 , April 1959 , pp. 375 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1959

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