Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
6
Stature Estimation
Megan K. Moore, Ann H. Ross
INTRODUCTION
Living stature is defined as the maximum height attained during one's lifetime. Estimating
stature can be important for individuation in forensic cases and mass disasters. It is one of the
biological criteria that can assist in building the biological profile of an unidentified decedent 1
(a deceased individual) aswell as support putative identifications ( Konigsberg et al., 2006 ). For
prehistoric studies, stature estimation can reveal developmental trends, environmental stress
such as nutritional deficits, and evolutionary relationships. Several factors affect stature: sex,
ancestry, age, secular changes from one generation to the next, and the environment. As with
many measurements of humans, stature fits a bell curve distribution, meaning that most indi-
viduals will be about the same height, falling in the middle of the distribution. However, there
will be individuals who are much shorter than average as well as individuals who are much
taller than average, falling to the left and right extremes of the bell curve distribution, respec-
tively. When considering stature estimation, the following generalizations can be made:
(1) Stature in humans increases until adulthood and then tends to decrease with advancing
age after about 45 years (whether to compensate for age reduction in stature estimation is
discussed later in this chapter) ( Galloway, 1988; Giles and Hutchinson, 1991 ).
(2) Within a single population there is considerable variability.
(3) On average, male stature is greater than female stature, though a female in one population
may be taller than a male in another population or within the same population.
(4) Population and twin studies have shown that anywhere from 65% to 90% of stature is
due to inheritance ( Li et al., 2004; Macgregor et al., 2006; Perola et al., 2007 ).
(5) Living stature may be estimated only after age, sex, and ancestry have been assessed, due
to varying levels of sexual dimorphism, growth, skeletal degeneration, and population
variation.
cka (1939) recognized that the correlations of long bones and stature would differ
with sex, ancestry, and side of the body. From an attempt to use Pearson's stature equations
Hrdli
1 All bolded terms are defined in the glossary at the end of this volume.
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