The estimation of peer-perceived ancestry is part of the biological profile constructed from human skeletal remains. Traditionally this has been accomplished through visual inspection of certain morphological nonmetric variants of the skull (morphoscopics), primarily the facial region and in particular the nasal aperture elements and surrounding structures. However, the need to maintain a consistent scoring scheme between observers, and thus reduce subjectivity, has lead Hefner (2009) to define and improve standards for many of these variants.
- Easily collect macromorphoscopic data relevant for estimating ancestry.
- Sixteen well defined traits are available with multiple character states.
- Each character state has individual description and detailed illustrations.
The Macromorphoscopics module is the latest module added to the Osteoware program. Through detailed descriptions, and the presentation of dozens of illustrations, the module provides invaluable assistance on scoring each of the 16 traits listed in Hefner (2009). Each trait definition is provided along with individual character states and line drawings.
References
Hefner, J.T. Cranial Nonmetric Variation and Estimating Ancestry. J. Forensic Sci. 54(5):985-995, 2009.
