Study of the K-S distance on skulls from different modern populations for sex and ancestry determination

K Jellinghaus,M Bohnert,R Jantz,S Matin,P Urban

doi:10.1007/s00194-020-00426-9

Abstract

AbstractIn forensic science determination of the origin and sex of skeletal remains is an important task for identification purposes. In this study we investigated the krotaphion-sphenion distance (K‑S distance) in the pterion region of German, Euro-American, African-American and Rwandan skulls of modern individuals from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century to look for statistically significant differences in sex and ancestry. We found a statistically significant sex-specific difference in the K‑S distance, which was greater in male skulls than in female skulls for both sides of the skull. Our study also showed that there is a statistically significant difference in the K‑S distance between the four populations studied. Landmarks and morphometric parameters measured in our investigations, which were not used for the present examination were provided to the software program Fordisc for its reference data to enhance the range of its usability for identification of unknown skulls or partial skulls of European individuals.

Highlights

In anthropology the skull is one of the most studied sections of the human skeleton [1]
Since there were exact X, Y and Z coordinates for each measurement point acquired by Microscribe and 3Skull, the distance between the landmarks krotaphion and sphenion was determined by calculating the Euclidean distance between the two points
In this study we investigated the krotaphionsphenion distance (K-S distance) in the pterion region of German, Euro-American, African-American and Rwandan skulls of modern individuals from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century to look for statistically significant differences in sex and ancestry

Summary

Introduction

In anthropology the skull is one of the most studied sections of the human skeleton [1]. To the pelvis the skull is used for determining sex This can be achieved due to its sex-specific dimorphisms. In principle, these characteristics of the skull are differences in size and in robustness. The temporal fossa is bounded caudally by the zygomatic arch and by the inferior and superior temporal line. The pterion is the region where the frontal, sphenoidal, temporal and parietal bones meet [4]. It is used clinically as an anatomical landmark and is a well-studied section of the skull: Surgically it is relevant when blunt trauma causes epidural hemorrhage [5] as the meningeal artery is anatomically close [4]. Differences regarding the location of the pterion have been observed among different ancestralities, which could be due to genetic or environmental influences [3]

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