Ancestry Estimation in Forensic Anthropology: Geometric Morphometric versus Standard and Nonstandard Interlandmark Distances

Standard cranial measurements are commonly used for ancestry estimation; however, 3D digitizers have made cranial landmark data collection and geometric morphometric (GM) analyses more popular within forensic anthropology. Yet there has been little focus on which data type works best. The goal of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forensic sciences 2016-07, Vol.61 (4), p.892-897
Main Authors: Katherine Spradley, M., Jantz, Richard L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ancestry estimation
Cephalometry
cranial measurements
Discriminant Analysis
European Continental Ancestry Group
Female
Forensic Anthropology
forensic science
Genealogy
geometric morphometrics
Humans
interlandmark distances
Male
Skull - anatomy & histology
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Summary:Standard cranial measurements are commonly used for ancestry estimation; however, 3D digitizers have made cranial landmark data collection and geometric morphometric (GM) analyses more popular within forensic anthropology. Yet there has been little focus on which data type works best. The goal of the present research is to test the discrimination ability of standard and nonstandard craniometric measurements and data derived from GM analysis. A total of 31 cranial landmarks were used to generate 465 interlandmark distances, including a subset of 20 commonly used measurements, and to generate principal component scores from procrustes coordinates. All were subjected to discriminant function analysis to ascertain which type of data performed best for ancestry estimation of American Black and White and Hispanic males and females. The nonstandard interlandmark distances generated the highest classification rates for females (90.5%) and males (88.2%). Using nonstandard interlandmark distances over more commonly used measurements leads to better ancestry estimates for our current population structure.
ISSN:0022-1198
1556-4029
DOI:10.1111/1556-4029.13081