Body size estimation of small-bodied humans: Applicability of current methods

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Volumn 141, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 169-180

  Kurki, Helen K ^a   Ginter, J K ^b   Stock, J T ^c   Pfeiffer, S ^d,e  

^a UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA   (Canada)

^b TRENT UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^d UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

^e UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Body mass estimation; Foragers; Later Stone Age; Southern Africa; Stature estimation

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BODY BUILD; BODY MASS; BODY SIZE; FEMUR HEAD; HUMAN; LONG BONE; SOUTH AFRICA;

ANTHROPOMETRY; BODY SIZE; FEMALE; FOSSILS; HUMANS; MALE; PALEONTOLOGY; SEX CHARACTERISTICS; SOUTH AFRICA;

EID: 75349092685     PISSN: 00029483     EISSN: 10968644     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Abbie AA. 1956-7. Metrical characters of a central Australian tribe. Oceania 27:220-243.
2. Auerbach BM, Raxter MH, Ruff CB. 2005. If only I had a. . .: missing element estimation accuracy using the Fully technique for estimating statures [abstract]. Am J Phys Anthropol [Suppl] 40:67.
3. Auerbach BM, Ruff CB. 2004. Human body mass estimation: a comparison of "morphometric" and "mechanical" methods. Am J Phys Anthropol 125:331-342.
4. Bogin B, Smith PK, Orden AB, Varela Silva MI, Loucky J. 2002. Rapid change in height and body proportions of Maya American children. Am J Hum Biol 14:753-761.
5. Bogin B, Varela Silva MI, Rios L. 2007. Life history trade-offs in human growth: adaptation or pathology? Am J Hum Biol 19:631-642.
6. Brooks ST, Suchey JM. 1990. Skeletal age determination based on the os pubis: a comparison of the Acsadi-Nemerskeri and Suchey-Brooks methods. Hum Evol 5:227-238.
7. Buikstra JE, Ubelaker DH. 1994. Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains. Fayetteville, Arkansas: Arkansas Archaeological survey, Report Number44.
8. Cavalli-Sforza LL. 1986. African pygmies. New York: Academic Press.
9. Cavalli-Sforza LL, Menozzi P, Piazza A. 1994. The history and geography of human genes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
10. Dart RA. 1937. The physical characters of the /?Auni-/5Khom Ani Bushmen, Appendices A-W. Bantu Studies 11:175-246.
11. Deacon HJ, Deacon J. 1999. Human beginnings in South Africa: uncovering the secrets of the Stone Age. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
12. Eveleth PB, Tanner JM. 1976. Worldwide variation in human growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13. Eveleth PB, Tanner JM. 1990. Worldwide variation in human growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14. Feldesman MR, Fountain RL. 1996. "Race" specificity and the femur/stature ratio. Am J Phys Anthropol 100:207-244.
15. Field H. 1952. The anthropology of Iraq. Papers Peabody Mus. 46 nos. 2:3.
16. Froment A, Hiernaux J. 1984. Climate-associated anthropometric variation between populations of the Niger bend. Ann Hum Biol 11:189-200.
17. Fully G. 1956. Une nouvelle méthode de determination de la taille. Ann Med Legale 35:266-273.
18. Giannecchini M, Moggi-Cecchi J. 2008. Stature in archaeological samples from Central Italy: methodological issues and diachronic changes. Am J Phys Anthropol 135:284-292.
19. Ginter J. 2008. A Bioarchaeological study of mid-Holocene communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: the interface between foraging and pastoralism. PhD Dissertation. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
20. Gustafsson A, Lindenfors P. 2004. Human size evolution: no evolutionary allometric relationship between male and female stature. J Hum Evol 47:253-266.
21. Hiernaux J. 1968. Variabilite' du dimorphisme sexuel de la stature en Afrique Subsaharienne et en Afrique. In: Saller K, editor. Anthropologie und humangenetik. Stuttgart: Gustav Fisher Verlag. p 42-50.
22. Holden C, Mace R. 1999. Sexual dimorphism in stature and women's work: a phylogenetic cross-cultural analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol 110:27-45.
23. Holliday TW. 2002. Body size and postcranial robusticity of European Upper Paleolithic hominins. J Hum Evol 43:513-528.
24. Howell N. 2000. Demography of the Dobe !Kung. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
25. Hyndman DC, Ulijaszek SJ, Lourie JA. 1989. Variability in body physique, ecology, and subsistence in the Fly River region of Papua New Guinea. Am J Phys Anthropol 79:89-101.
26. Iscan MY, Loth SR, Wright RK. 1984. Age estimation from the rib by phase analysis: White males. J Forensic Sci 29:1094-1104.
27. Iscan MY, Loth SR, Wright RK. 1985. Age estimation from the rib by phase analysis: White females. J Forensic Sci 30:853-863.
28. Kurki HK. 2007. Protection of obstetric dimensions in a smallbodied human sample. Am J Phys Anthropol 133:1152-1165.
29. Kurki HK, Ginter JK, Stock JT, Pfeiffer S. 2008. Adult proportionality in small-bodied foragers: a test of ecogeographic expectations. Am J Phys Anthropol 136:28-38.
30. Laughlin WS. 1951. The Alaskan gateway viewed from the Aleutian Islands. In: Laughlin WS, editor. Papers on the physical anthropology of the American Indian. New York: Viking Fund. p 98-126.
31. Lee RB. 1993. The Dobe Ju/'hoansi. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
32. Littlewood RA. 1972. Physical anthropology of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
33. Lovejoy CO, Meindl RS, Pryzbeck TR, Mensforth RP. 1985. Chronological metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the ilium: a new method for the determination of adult skeletal age at death. Am J Phys Anthropol 68:15-28.
34. Lundy JK. 1986. Intertribal metrical and morphological variation in the postcranial skeleton of the South African Negro. In: Singer R, Lundy JK, editors. Variation, culture, and evolution in african populations. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. p 85-99.
35. Malcolm LA. 1974. Ecological factors relating to child growth and nutritional status. In: Roche AF, Falkner F, editors. Nutrition and malnutrition: identification and measurement. New York: Plenum Press. p 329-352.
36. Martonell R, Habicht J-P. 1986. Growth in early childhood in developing countries. In: Falker F, Tanner JM, editors. Human growth: a comprehensive treatise, Vol.3. New York: Plenum Press. p 241-262.
37. McHenry HM. 1992. Body size and proportions in early Hominids. Am J Phys Anthropol 87:407-431.
38. Meindl RS, Lovejoy CO. 1985. Ectocranial suture closure: a revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death based on the lateral-anterior sutures. Am J Phys Anthropol 68:57-66.
39. Migliano AB. 2005. Why are Pygmies small? Ontogenetic implications of life history evolution. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.
40. Migliano AB, Vinicius L, Lahr MM. 2007. Life history trade-offs explain the evolution of human pygmies. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104:20216-20219.
41. Mitchell PJ. 2002. The archaeology of southern Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
42. Morris AG. 1992a. A master catalogue: Holocene human skeletons from South Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
43. Morris AG. 1992b. The skeletons of contact. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
44. Olivier G. 1976. The stature of Australopithecus. J Hum Evol 5:529-534.
45. Patrick MK. 1989. An archaeological anthropological study of the human skeletal remains from Oakhurst Rockshelter, George, Cape Province, Southern Africa. Master's dissertation, University of Cape Town.
46. Pfeiffer S, Sealy J. 2006. Body size among Holocene foragers of the Cape Ecozone, Southern Africa. Am J Phys Anthropol 129:1-11.
47. Phenice TW. 1969. A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis. Am J Phys Anthropol 30:297-302.
48. Pietrusewsky M, Douglas MT, Ikehara-Quebral RM. 1997. Assessment of health and disease in the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands. Am J Phys Anthropol 104:315-342.
49. Pretty GL, Henneberg M, Lambert KM, Prokopec M. 1998. Trends in stature in the South Australian Aboriginal Murraylands. Am J Phys Anthropol 106:505-514.
50. Raxter MH, Auerbach BM, Ruff CB. 2006. Revision of the Fully technique for estimating statures. Am J Phys Anthropol 130:374-384.
51. Raxter MH, Ruff CB, Auerbach BM. 2007. Technical note: revised Fully stature estimation technique. Am J Phys Anthropol 133:817-818.
52. Raxter MH, Ruff CB, Azab A, Erfan M, Soliman M, El-Sawaf A. 2008. Stature estimation in Ancient Egyptians: a new technique based on anatomical reconstruction of stature. Am J Phys Anthropol 136:147-155.
53. Ruff CB. 1988. Hindlimb articular surface allometry in Hominoidea and Macaca, with comparisons to diaphyseal scaling. J Hum Evol 17:687-714.
54. Ruff CB. 1994. Morphological adaptation to climate in modern and fossil homininds. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 37:65-107.
55. Ruff CB. 2007. Body size prediction from juvenile skeletal remains. Am J Phys Anthropol 133:698-716.
56. Ruff CB, Niskanen M, Junno JA, Jamison P. 2005. Body mass prediction from stature and bi-iliac breadth in two high latitude populations, with applications to earlier higher latitude humans. J Hum Evol 48:381-392.
57. Ruff CB, Scott WW, Liu AY. 1991. Articular and diaphyseal remodeling of the proximal femur with changes in body mass in adults. Am J Phys Anthropol 86:397-413.
58. Ruff CB, Trinkaus E, Holliday TW. 1997. Body mass and encephalization in Pleistocene Homo. Nature 387:173-176.
59. Ruff CB, Trinkaus E, Walker A, Larson CS. 1993. Postcranial robusticity in Homo. I. Temporal trends and mechanical interpretations. Am J Phys Anthropol 91:21-53.
60. Sciulli PW, Blatt SH. 2008. Evaluation of juvenile stature and body mass prediction. Am J Phys Anthropol 136:387-393.
61. Sealy JC. 1989. Reconstruction of Later Stone Age diets in the south-western Cape, South Africa: evaluation and application of five isotopic and trace element techniques. PhD dissertation, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
62. Sealy JC, Patrick MK, Morris AG, Alder D. 1992. Diet and dental caries among Later Stone Age inhabitants of the Cape Province. South Africa. Am J Phys Anthropol 88:123-134.
63. Sealy JC, Pfeiffer S. 2000. Diet, body size and landscape use among Holocene peoples in the Southern Cape. South Africa. Curr Anthropol 41:642-655.
64. Sealy JC, van der Merwe NJ. 1988. Social, spatial and chronological patterning in marine food use as determined by 13C measurements of Holocene human skeletons from the south-western Cape. South Africa. World Archaeol 20:87-102.
65. Smith P, Horwitz LK, Kaplan E. 1992. Skeletal evidence for population change in the Late Holocene of the south-western Cape: a radiological study. S Afr Archaeol Bull 47:82-88.
66. Smith RJ. 1999. Statistics of sexual size dimorphism. J Hum Evol 36:423-459.
67. Smith SL. 2007. Stature estimation of 3-10-year-old children from long bone lengths. J Forensic Sci 52:538-546.
68. Steckel RH, Sciulli PW, Rose JC. 2002. A health index from skeletal remains. In: Steckel RH, Rose JC, editors. The backbone of history: health and nutrition in the Western Hemisphere. New York: Cambridge University Press. p 61-93.
69. Stinson S. 1990. Variation in body size and shape among South-American Indians. Am J Hum Biol 2:37-51.
70. Stynder DD. 2009. Craniometric evidence for South African Later Stone Age herders and hunter-gatherers being a single biological population. J Archaeol Sci 36:798-806.
71. Stynder DD, Rogers Ackermann R, Sealy JC. 2007. Craniofacial variation and population continuity during the South African Holocene. Am J Phys Anthropol 134:489-500.
72. Suchey J, Katz D. 1986. Skeletal age standards derived from an extensive multiracial sample of modern Americans. Am J Phys Anthropol 69:269.
73. Tanner JM, Hayashi T, Preece MA, Cameron N. 1982. Increase in length of leg relative to trunk in Japanese children and adults from 1957 to 1977: Comparisons with British and with Japanese Americans. Ann Hum Biol 9:411-423.
74. Trotter M, Gleser GC. 1952. Estimation of stature from long bones of American whites and Negros. Am J Phys Anthropol 10:463-514.
75. Truswell AS, Hansen JDL. 1976. Medical research among the !Kung. In: Lee RB, De Vore I, editors. Kalahari huntergatherers: studies of the !Kung San and their neighbors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p 166-194.
76. Vincent M, Jans C, Ghesquiere J. 1962. The new-born pigmy and his mother. Am J Phys Anthropol 20:237-247.
77. Walker R, Gurven M, Hill K, Migliano A, Chagnon N, de Souza R, Djurovic G, Hames R, Hurtado AM, Kaplan H, Kramer K, Oliver W, Valeggia C, Yamauchi T. 2006. Growth rates and life histories in twenty-two small-scale societies. Am J Hum Biol 18:295-311.
78. Walker RS, Hamilton MJ. 2008. Life-history consequences of density dependence and the evolution of human body size. Curr Anthropol 49:115-122.
79. Wells LH. 1960. Bushman and Hottentot statures: a review of the evidence. S Afr J Sci 56:277-281.
80. Wilson ML, Lundy JK. 1994. Estimated living statures of dated Khoisan skeletons from the south-western coastal region of South Africa. S Afr Archaeol Bull 49:2-8.
81. Wolstenholme J, Walsh RJ. 1967. Heights and weights of indigenes of the Western Highlands district. New Guinea. Archaeol Phys Anthropol Ocean 2:220-226.
82. Zakrzewski SR. 2003. Variation in ancient Egyptian stature and body proportions. Am J Phys Anthropol 121:219-229.
83. Zakrzewski SR. 2007. Population continuity or population change: formation of the ancient Egyptian state. Am J Phys Anthropol 132:501-509.