Neandertal faces were not long; modern human faces are short. (1/8)

Neandertal faces have been described as being derived with respect to their overall length or degree of anterior projection. A comparison of cranial and mandibular indicators of lower facial projection across archaic and modern Homo indicates that Neandertal facial lengths on average are similar to those of preceding archaic Homo and principally contrast with those of recent humans. Neandertal facial length is not derived. The shortness of recent human facial skeletons is the evolutionarily derived condition.  (+info)

Craniometric relationships among medieval Central European populations: implications for Croat migration and expansion. (2/8)

AIM: To determine the ethnic composition of the early medieval Croats, the location from which they migrated to the east coast of the Adriatic, and to separate early medieval Croats from Bijelo brdo culture members, using principal components analysis and discriminant function analysis of craniometric data from Central and South-East European medieval archaeological sites. METHODS: Mean male values for 8 cranial measurements from 39 European and 5 Iranian sites were analyzed by principal components analysis. Raw data for 17 cranial measurements for 103 female and 112 male skulls were used to develop discriminant functions. RESULTS: The scatter-plot of the analyzed sites on the first 2 principal components showed a pattern of intergroup relationships consistent with geographical and archaeological information not included in the data set. The first 2 principal components separated the sites into 4 distinct clusters: Avaroslav sites west of the Danube, Avaroslav sites east of the Danube, Bijelo brdo sites, and Polish sites. All early medieval Croat sites were located in the cluster of Polish sites. Two discriminant functions successfully differentiated between early medieval Croats and Bijelo brdo members. Overall accuracies were high -- 89.3% for males, and 97.1% for females. CONCLUSION: Early medieval Croats seem to be of Slavic ancestry, and at one time shared a common homeland with medieval Poles. Application of unstandardized discriminant function coefficients to unclassified crania from 18 sites showed an expansion of early medieval Croats into continental Croatia during the 10th to 13th century.  (+info)

Craniofacial profile in Asian and white subjects with obstructive sleep apnoea. (3/8)

BACKGROUND: Clinical detection of structural narrowing of the upper airway may facilitate early recognition of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). To determine whether the craniofacial profile predicts the presence of OSA, the upper airway and craniofacial structure of 239 consecutive patients (164 Asian and 75 white subjects) referred to two sleep centres (Hong Kong and Vancouver) were prospectively examined for suspected sleep disordered breathing. METHODS: All subjects underwent a history and physical examination with measurements of anthropometric parameters and craniofacial structure including neck circumference, thyromental distance, thyromental angle, and Mallampati oropharyngeal score. OSA was defined as an apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) of > or = 5/hour on full overnight polysomnography. RESULTS: Discriminant function analysis indicated that the Mallampati score (F = 0.70), thyromental angle (F = 0.60), neck circumference (F = 0.54), body mass index (F = 0.53), and age (F = 0.53) were the best predictors of OSA. After controlling for ethnicity, body mass index and neck circumference, patients with OSA were older, had larger thyromental angles, and higher Mallampati scores than non-apnoeic subjects. These variables remained significantly different between OSA patients and controls across a range of cut-off values of AHI from 5 to 30/hour. CONCLUSIONS: A crowded posterior oropharynx and a steep thyromental plane predict OSA across two different ethnic groups and varying degrees of obesity.  (+info)

Detection of a population replacement at the Classic-Postclassic transition in Mexico. (4/8)

The Mexica Empire reached an outstanding social, economic and politic organization among Mesoamerican civilizations. Even though archaeology and history provide substantial information about their past, their biological origin and the demographic consequences of their settlement in the Central Valley of Mexico remain unsolved. Two main hypotheses compete to explain the Mexica origin: a social reorganization of the groups already present in the Central Valley after the fall of the Classic centres or a population replacement of the Mesoamerican groups by migrants from the north and the consequent setting up of the Mexica society. Here, we show that the main changes in the facial phenotype occur during the Classic-Postclassic transition, rather than in the rise of the Mexica. Furthermore, Mexica facial morphology seems to be already present in the early phases of the Postclassic epoch and is not related to the northern facial pattern. A combination of geometric morphometrics with Relethford-Blangero analyses of within- versus among-group variation indicates that Postclassic groups are more variable than expected. This result suggests that intense gene exchange was likely after the fall of the Classic and maybe responsible for the Postclassic facial phenotype. The source population for the Postclassic groups could be located somewhere in western Mesoamerica, since North Mexico and Central Mesoamerican Preclassic and Classic groups are clearly divergent from the Postclassic ones. Similarity among Preclassic and Classic groups and those from Aridoamerica could be reflecting the ancestral phenotypic pattern characteristic of the groups that first settled Mesoamerica.  (+info)

A morphogenetic model of cranial pneumatization based on the invasive tissue hypothesis. (5/8)

 (+info)

Regional, ontogenetic, and sex-related variations in elastic properties of cortical bone in baboon mandibles. (6/8)

 (+info)

Polynesian head form: an interpretation of a factor analysis of Cartesian co-ordinate data. (7/8)

The three dimensional co-ordinates of a large number of landmarks on a series of Polynesian skulls have been obtained by means of a diagraph, and from standard lateral cephalograms. The method is accurate, and a very large amount of data is stored in the concise form of the standardized co-ordinates. A factor analysis of some of these data defines a number of distinct craniofacial segments showing independent variation in positioning, and therefore presumably growth, along defined axes. The segments thus defined relate well to the conclusions of other studies of skull growth and form, and support the view that the basis of cranial variation is the same for all Homo sapiens. It is suggested that the strict independence of the isolated craniofacial segments may be a consequence of the particular method, and may not truly reflect the situation in the growing skull.  (+info)

Preliminary description of the cranium of Proteopithecus sylviae, an Egyptian late Eocene anthropoidean primate. (8/8)

Recent discovery of crania, dentitions, and postcrania of a primitive anthropoidean primate, Proteopithecus sylviae, at the late Eocene L-4l quarry in the Fayum, Egypt, provides evidence of a new taxonomic family of early African higher primates, the Proteopithecidae. This family could be part of the basal radiation that produced the New World platyrrhine primates, or it could be unrelated to any subsequent lineages. Although no larger than a small callitrichid or a dwarf lemur, this tiny primate already possessed many of the derived features of later anthropoids and was a diurnal and probably dimorphic species. In dental formula and other dental proportions, as well as in known postcranial features, Proteopithecus more nearly resembles platyrrhines than does any other Old World higher primate. The small size of the Proteopithecus cranium demonstrates that the defining cranial characteristics of Anthropoidea did not arise as a consequence of an increase in size during derivation from earlier prosimians.  (+info)