Population Affinity Estimation

scientific racism

Samuel George Morton measured skull volume to test the hypothesis that races could be ranked based on brain size

Earnest Hooton

He developed a list of traits that classified skulls into typological racial groups

UV radiation exposure

What is the best predictor of global skin color distribution?

clinal variation

e.g. skin color variation; a trait that has a range of variation based on geographic area, such as latitude or altitude

discordance

traits do not agree in frequency and distribution across populations

no, only social categories

Do biological races exist within Homo sapiens?

social race category

population affinity is estimated based on this, which an individual was likely assigned (or self-identified with) during life

cranium, mid-face

What are the best traits to use to estimate population affinity?

morphoscopic analysis

in the past, anthropologists used a “trait list” approach

• highly based on observer experience

• does not account for intra-population variation

scoring based on statistical framework

How can population affinity estimation be improved while using morphoscopic traits?

craniometric analysis

• standard cranial measurements

• compare measurements of unknown with reference samples in Fordisc

• discriminant functions classify unknown into most similar group, provide probability and typicality values