title: Evaluating the Accuracy of Cranial Indices in Ancestry Estimation Among South African Groups.
abstract: Historically, population differences were quantified using cranial indices. Even though the application of indices is associated with numerous statistical and methodological problems, the use of cranial indices to estimate ancestry persists as demonstrated by its inclusion in several recent papers and conference presentations. The purpose of this study was to classify 207 South African crania and compare the results of five standard cranial indices to linear discriminant analysis (LDA). New sectioning points were created to contend with low classification accuracies (40-79%) and possible secular trends. Although the accuracies of the new sectioning points increased (66-87%), the accuracies associated with the stepwise LDA were higher (84%) and could classify the crania into one of the three South African groups. The results of the study demonstrate that indices cannot compete with multivariate techniques and should not be used in forensic anthropological analyses for ancestry estimation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, Private Bag x323, 0007, Arcadia, South Africa.
authors.forename: Leandi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liebenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, 83204.
authors.forename: Kyra E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Stull
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, Private Bag x323, 0007, Arcadia, South Africa.
authors.forename: Ericka N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: L'Abbé
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, Private Bag x323, 0007, Arcadia, South Africa.
authors.forename: Deona
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Botha
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044383:Black People; D002508:Cephalometry; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013019:South Africa; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fisher natural breaks classification; craniometric; forensic anthropology; forensic science; linear discriminant analysis