Secular change of sexually dimorphic cranial variables in Euro-Americans and Germans

摘要

Crania are a reliable source for sex estimation in Euro-Americans, Europeans, and most other populations. Besides morphological assessments, the application of FordiscA (R) has become a useful tool within the last two decades, creating discriminant functions from morphometric data. Unfortunately, until now, white populations are mostly represented by measurements of American individuals. Therefore, classification rates are lower for European skulls than for Euro-Americans. The aim of this study was to show differences in sexual dimorphism between German and Euro-American crania. Furthermore, their secular change from the nineteenth to the twentieth century has been investigated. Analyses have been performed on glabella subtense (GLS), mastoid height (MDH), and bizygomatic breadth (ZYB). FordiscA (R) 3.1 was used to study sexual dimorphism and secular change, whereas SASA (R) was used to perform a two-level ANOVA to test for variation in sex dimorphism. Euro-Americans show greater dimorphism than Germans in all three measurements tested. This larger difference is even increasing from the late nineteenth through the late twentieth century in terms of GLS and MDH, while it stays almost the same in the present Europeans. These results explain the unsatisfying classification rates of German and other European crania on FordiscA (R). Data collection for European FordiscA (R) samples is in progress and should improve the current situation.