Skeletal Kinship Analysis Using Developmental Anomalies of the Foot

Skeletal Kinship Analysis Using Foot Anomalies

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4637518
AutoresD Troy Case (0000-0003-0773-3605, North Carolina State University, autor de correspondencia), L B Jones (0000-0003-4791-753X, Department of Sociology and Anthropology; North Carolina State University; Raleigh NC USA), L Ben-Tovim Jones (North Carolina State University), A M Offenbecker (Department of Anthropology and Archaeology; University of Calgary; Calgary AB Canada), Adrianne Offenbecker (University of Calgary)
Año2017
Volumen27
Número2
Páginas192-205
Fecha de publicación2017-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.2529
OpenAlexW2335840374
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas41

Developmental anomalies of the skeleton are often treated as mere curiosities, but in some contexts, they may prove useful to bioarchaeologists for answering questions about the past. One such use can be found in skeletal kinship analysis, where discrete traits can help to identify close genetic relatives in archaeological cemeteries. Previous research suggests that discrete traits used for skeletal kinship analysis should have several characteristics—they must obviously be heritable, but in addition, they should be easy to score as present or absent, their frequencies should not vary by age or sex, and they should be low frequency traits. Low frequency traits are less likely than higher frequency traits to be found in two individuals merely by chance. In this study, we consider 17 developmental anomalies of the human foot as candidates for use in skeletal kinship analysis. The traits are evaluated in terms of the characteristics described above, after which kinship analyses are attempted on two different populations. Ten of the anomalies are found to be good candidates for skeletal kinship analysis, including accessory navicular, four different forms of brachydactyly, three types of tarsal coalition, and two forms of the os intermetatarseum. When frequencies of these traits were examined and compared to a reference sample in three cemeteries, however, only a single group of six possible genetic relatives were identified. The results suggest that skeletal kinship analysis using individual heritable traits is perhaps best applied to small cemeteries or burial clusters rather than larger cemeteries containing many different lineages. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Geography · Kinship · Linguistics · Sociology · Anthropology · Bone fractures and treatments · Congenital limb and hand anomalies · Connective tissue disorders research · Philosophy