M2: The Biological Profile
Lecture 12
Stature Estimation
Stature varies with time of day, taller in the morning
People lie about their stature, living v. recorded stature
CONCEPT OF Methods are based on populations from the early 1900s, these could
DETERMINING lead to inaccurate result with the culture of today
STATURE There are secular trends in stature – people are taller today than
several generations ago
Used for complete skeletons
Measures height of…
o Skull
o All the vertebral bodies
FULLY METHOD o Femur length
o Tibia length
o Ankle height
o Add Soft Tissue Correction inter-vertebral discs
Used for incomplete skeletons
o High correlation between limb bone length and stature
REGRESSION o Right and left limbs about the same height
o Limb bone lengths high correlated with each other
METHOD
o Lower limb is better at estimating than the upper limb
o Using more bone reduces error
Relate some variable in an unknown individual to a group whose
relationship
between
stature and
femur is
known
The line
characterizes
ESTIMATING the
STATURE relationship
between to
two variables
also called the
REGRESSION
LINE
Complete Long Bones
o Best estimate of stature
EXAMPLES OF Other Bones
REGRESSION o Vertebrae, Hands, & Feet
METHODS o Generally higher error rate
Fragmentary Long Bones
Lecture 12
Stature Estimation
Stature varies with time of day, taller in the morning
People lie about their stature, living v. recorded stature
CONCEPT OF Methods are based on populations from the early 1900s, these could
DETERMINING lead to inaccurate result with the culture of today
STATURE There are secular trends in stature – people are taller today than
several generations ago
Used for complete skeletons
Measures height of…
o Skull
o All the vertebral bodies
FULLY METHOD o Femur length
o Tibia length
o Ankle height
o Add Soft Tissue Correction inter-vertebral discs
Used for incomplete skeletons
o High correlation between limb bone length and stature
REGRESSION o Right and left limbs about the same height
o Limb bone lengths high correlated with each other
METHOD
o Lower limb is better at estimating than the upper limb
o Using more bone reduces error
Relate some variable in an unknown individual to a group whose
relationship
between
stature and
femur is
known
The line
characterizes
ESTIMATING the
STATURE relationship
between to
two variables
also called the
REGRESSION
LINE
Complete Long Bones
o Best estimate of stature
EXAMPLES OF Other Bones
REGRESSION o Vertebrae, Hands, & Feet
METHODS o Generally higher error rate
Fragmentary Long Bones
