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Resumo

The morphology of skulls with occipito-parietal deformation is mainly influenced by two factors: the artificial deformation itself and the natural morphology of the skull. Basing on morphometric methods our study is focused on identifying possible interaction between these two factors. We suggested that reduction the analyzed area to the deformed region of the skull may provide a more precise understanding of the variation in occipitoparietal flattening. This study aims to test this hypothesis and new software. Three male samples of deformed skulls from different chronological horizons of the Okunev culture (Minusinsk Basin) and the Early Bronze Age of the northwestern Caspian Sea region (35 skulls) were analyzed. 3D Slicer and Landmark IDAV software were used to place landmarks and patches and two packages in R (Morpho and Geomorph) for statistical analysis and visualization. The number of landmarks varies during the analyses. The minimum number is 15 along the sagittal contour and maximum is 76 setting over three rectangular patches along the median line. In all cases, when data on full contours of the skulls were used the results of PCA show rather interpopulation variation instead of the variations in skull deformation itself. On the next stage the studied area was reduced to a triangular region covering the occipitoparietal area directly (with vertices at the Bregma and Asterions). In this case the analysis reveals actual differences in the degree of flattening between the groups. Therefore, we confirm the hypothesis that it is important to restrict topography of the study region of the skull. Analysis of the deformed region allows avoiding influence of the interpopulation differences. The 3D Slicer software is effective and suitable for studying variations in the shape of the neurocranium, including those with artificial deformation.

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