Identification of Group Affinity from Cross-sectional Contours of the Human Midfacial Skeleton Using Digital Morphometrics and 3D Laser Scanning Technology

:  Identifying group affinity from human crania is a long‐standing problem in forensic and physical anthropology. Many craniofacial differences used in forensic skeletal identification are difficult to quantify, although certain measurements of the midfacial skeleton have shown high predictive value...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forensic sciences 2011-03, Vol.56 (2), p.333-338
Main Authors: Sholts, Sabrina B., Walker, Phillip L., Kuzminsky, Susan C., Miller, Kevin W.P., Wärmländer, Sebastian K.T.S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Affinity
Anatomy, Cross-Sectional
California
China
Contours
cranial morphology
Cross sections
Digital
digital morphometrics
Discriminant Analysis
Forensic anthropology
Forensic Anthropology - methods
forensic science
Fourier Analysis
Fourier transforms
Human
Humans
Identification
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Lasers
Male
Measurement
Norway
population affinity
Scanning
Skull - anatomy & histology
Software
Statistical analysis
Studies
Three dimensional
three-dimensional laser scanning
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Summary::  Identifying group affinity from human crania is a long‐standing problem in forensic and physical anthropology. Many craniofacial differences used in forensic skeletal identification are difficult to quantify, although certain measurements of the midfacial skeleton have shown high predictive value for group classifications. This study presents a new method for analyzing midfacial shape variation between different geographic groups. Three‐dimensional laser scan models of 90 crania from three populations were used to obtain cross‐sectional midfacial contours defined by three standard craniometric landmarks. Elliptic Fourier transforms of the contours were used to extract Fourier coefficients for statistical analysis. After cross‐validation, discriminant functions based on the Fourier coefficients provided an average of 86% correct classifications for crania from the three groups. The high rate of accuracy of this method indicates its usefulness for identifying group affinities among human skeletal remains and demonstrates the advantages of digital 3D model‐based analysis in forensic research.
ISSN:0022-1198
1556-4029
1556-4029
DOI:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.01701.x