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Scoring of nonmetric cranial traits: a population study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 1999

P. BRASILI ,
L. ZACCAGNI  and
E. GUALDI-RUSSO
P. BRASILI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Area di Antropologia Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
L. ZACCAGNI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Area di Antropologia Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
E. GUALDI-RUSSO
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Area di Antropologia Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Abstract

The aims of the present study were: (1) to supply further knowledge about variations in nonmetric cranial traits in relation to sex, age and laterality and (2) to evaluate biological distance between samples from a recent population. The incidence of 18 nonmetric variants of the cranium were determined in 3 adult samples of 394 skulls of known sex from North Sardinia (Sassari, Alghero and Ozieri); for the Sassari sample (n = 200) age at death was also known. Some significant sex differences were observed. Age did not appear to influence the frequency of the discontinuous traits but did for legibility. Side differences may provide important information about environmental influences. The interpopulation analysis indicates a stronger relationship between samples that are geographically closer (Sassari and Alghero), in accordance with other studies, strengthening the hypothesis of the validity of the use of nonmetric traits in the study of the peopling of a territory.

Keywords

Osteologyskulldiscontinuous traitsbiological distance
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Anatomy , Volume 195 , Issue 4 , November 1999 , pp. 551 - 562
Copyright
© Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1999

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