TY - JOUR
T1 - Geographic Variation in Zygomaxillary Suture Morphology and its Use in Ancestry Estimation
AU - Maddux, Scott D.
AU - Sporleder, Alexandria N.
AU - Burns, Casey E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - Angled/curved zygomaxillary suture coding is widely employed in cranial assessments of ancestry. However, the efficacy of this method has not been extensively evaluated across diverse populations. In this study, zygomaxillary suture morphology was assessed on a total of 411 human crania from six populations (European, Native American, African, Asian, Arctic Circle, and Aboriginal Australian) using a novel 3D coordinate landmark method. Our results indicate a predominance of angled sutures among native peoples of the Arctic and North America (85-86%), a prevalence of curved sutures among Africans and Aboriginal Australians (77-81%), and essentially equal proportions of both configurations in Asians and Europeans (50-56%). Statistically, angled/curved coding generally discriminates poorly between groups, except when populations with antithetically high frequencies of the two configurations (e.g., African vs. Native American) are compared. Moreover, comparisons across previous studies reveal conflicting frequencies for many populations, further suggesting limited utility of this trait in ancestry estimation.
AB - Angled/curved zygomaxillary suture coding is widely employed in cranial assessments of ancestry. However, the efficacy of this method has not been extensively evaluated across diverse populations. In this study, zygomaxillary suture morphology was assessed on a total of 411 human crania from six populations (European, Native American, African, Asian, Arctic Circle, and Aboriginal Australian) using a novel 3D coordinate landmark method. Our results indicate a predominance of angled sutures among native peoples of the Arctic and North America (85-86%), a prevalence of curved sutures among Africans and Aboriginal Australians (77-81%), and essentially equal proportions of both configurations in Asians and Europeans (50-56%). Statistically, angled/curved coding generally discriminates poorly between groups, except when populations with antithetically high frequencies of the two configurations (e.g., African vs. Native American) are compared. Moreover, comparisons across previous studies reveal conflicting frequencies for many populations, further suggesting limited utility of this trait in ancestry estimation.
KW - Ancestry
KW - Anthropology
KW - Forensic science
KW - Nonmetric traits
KW - Osteology
KW - Zygomaticomaxillary suture
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938068325&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1556-4029.12774
DO - 10.1111/1556-4029.12774
M3 - Article
C2 - 25817798
AN - SCOPUS:84938068325
SN - 0022-1198
VL - 60
SP - 966
EP - 973
JO - Journal of forensic sciences
JF - Journal of forensic sciences
IS - 4
ER -