Height of skull base as an indicator of living conditions in historical native populations from Europe, Australia and Africa.
Flattening and lowering of the skull base in response to improper bone growth is called platybasis, and is considered a sensitive and reliable indicator of adverse living conditions such as malnutrition and disease during the prenatal period and early childhood. The degree of platybasis was assessed in three series of skulls representing geographically distinct historical native populations from Europe, Australia and Africa. Platybasis was determined by measuring the height of the base of the skull. The degree of platybasis varied among the populations examined, and was the lowest in the Australian group, and the highest in the African group. This may be due to either variability of living conditions or genetic factors, which have an influence on robusticity and cranial architecture. There were also differences among the groups in terms of the other skull measurements and indices examined. The height of the base of the skull was generally greater in males than in females, which indicates sexual dimorphism or fact that females had worse living conditions. Correlation coefficients between the height of the base of the skull and other measurements including skull length and skull width were also calculated indicating significant relationships. The differences between the height of the base of the skull and height/length index and height/width index, were statistically significant.
Department of Anthropology, University of WrocŁaw, ul. Kuźnicza 35, 50-138 WrocŁaw, Poland. m.senator@antropo.uni.wroc.pl
Małgorzata
M
Senator
Barbara
B
Kwiatkowska
Stanisław
S
Gronkiewicz
D000349:Africa; D001315:Australia; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010163:Paleontology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D019291:Skull Base / Q000033:anatomy & histology*