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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Djehuti: [QB] ^ Duh! I don't know why I didn't think of that myself. Thanks, Xyman. So [URL=http://host-a.net/Apo-Init_05/Antiquity%20Ivory%20Bangle%20Lady.pdf]here[/URL]it is for anyone who is interested!: [b]Ancestry[/b] [i]In 1901, little attention was given to the skeletal remains interred within the coffin (Boynton 1902; RCHM Ebvracvm 1962: 73). A re-assessment of ST60 showed that the skeleton is of a young female, aged between 18–23 years. Her height was calculated by means of regression formulae based on the correlation of limb-bone length to stature (Trotter 1970), suggesting a height of 5’1” (range: 5’0”–5’2” or 152-160cm) based on the maximum length of the femur (414mm). This makes her only slightly shorter than the average female from Roman Britain, where the average stature has been estimated at 5’2” (Roberts & Cox 2003: 142). The skeleton was gracile and did not exhibit pronounced muscle markings that would have suggested a strenuous lifestyle (Hawkey & Merbs 1995). There was no evidence of trauma, pathology or childhood stress, and no apparent cause of death. [b]While some early craniometric studies were tainted by racism (Gould 1992; Arnold 2006: 15-19, Pl. 1; Gosden 2006), ancestry assessment is today an established method in forensic anthropology and offers valuable additional information on the identity of an individual. Ancestry assessment methods that evaluate cranial and facial morphology (Bass 1995) traditionally use simplified categories such as ‘mixed race’, ‘black’ and ‘white’, but it is understood that skeletal assessment does not give information about skin colour, and that discretely defined racial groups do not exist[/b] (Brace 1995; AAPA 1996). Instead, morphological and metrical assessments of the skull tell us about phenotypical variation of humans over geographic areas (Brace 1995; AAPA 1996). The remains of the ‘ivory bangle lady’ were analysed using standard methods for the assessment of ancestry in forensic anthropology (see Bass 1995; Byers 2005). During the osteological analysis it was noted that the facial characteristics of this female exhibited a mix of ‘black’ and ‘white’ ancestral traits (Figure 3). [b]The skull exhibited a low, wide and broad nasal ridge and wide inter-orbital breadth suggestive of ‘black’ ancestry[/b], while the nasal spine and nasal border demonstrated ‘white’ characteristics. The shape of the nasal aperture was inconclusive. Although some post-mortem damage had occurred, the cranium was complete enough to perform a craniometric analysis, which quantifies the characteristics on an objective scale in an attempt to further define the ancestral identity of an individual. Standard craniometric measurements were taken (Howells 1973, 1995; Bass 1995; Byers 2005; Jantz & Owsley 2005) and were compared to Howells’ worldwide reference populations and the forensic data bank, using FORDISC 3.0 discriminant functions software (Jantz & Owsley 2005). When using these multivariate analyses, similarity to a reference population does not indicate a specific identity, but rather a physical affinity of the unknown cranium to the closest population within the reference collection. It should be noted that this reference collection comprises only early modern populations, and that the recording of craniometric data of Roman-period skeletons from Britain and the Mediterranean is clearly a research priority (Leach et al. 2009). The degree of similarity of the unknown cranium to the populations included inHowells’ samples is provided by the Mahalanobis Distance (MD), a value best expressing the overall similarity of the test cranium to the reference populations (Table 1; Figure 4). The closer the MD score is to 0, the more similar the unknown cranium is to the reference group. In the current study, scores over 10 were not considered significant. FORDISC 3.0 also provides calculations of ‘typicality’ and ‘posterior’ statistical probabilities; however, as the latter assume that the test cranium must belong to one of the reference populations, only the former are appropriate for the current investigation. Typicality probabilities express the likelihood of a cranium belonging to a particular group, based on its distance from that group, and the variability of all the populations tested (Jantz & Owsley 2005). They are represented as values from 0 to 1; the higher the number, the more similar are the values of the test cranium to the mean of the reference population. Typicality probabilities of less than 0.05 would indicate no affinity to the reference population (Jantz & Owsley 2005), whereas scores greater than 0.7 would suggest a strong association with the group. [b]The results of the craniometric multivariate analysis of ST60 suggest greatest affinity with two reference populations of African-American females[/b], particularly BF19 which comprises individuals from the nineteenth-century Terry and Hamann-Todd collections (Table 1; Figure 4). The MD is under 10 at 8.3 and the typicality probability is just below 0.7 at 0.6 (Table 1). It should be stressed that similarity to African-American reference populations does not indicate a specific identity or regional origin, but rather a physical affinity to the closest population within the reference collection. The African-American populations in Howell’s database are characterised by a much larger element of genetic admixture than the Sub-Saharan African groups and it is likely that ST60’s affinity to the African-Americans is also the result of mixed ancestry. The suggestion of mixed ancestry for ST60 is also supported by the results of the anthroposcopic assessment of morphological traits, which gave both ‘white’ and ‘black’ traits. The fact that ST60 shows only little or no affinity to any of the ‘white’ populations in Howell’s database further underlines her unusual ancestry within the north-west European context. Roman North Africa is well known for its mixed populations (e.g. Mattingly & Hitchner 1995: 171-4) reflecting Phoenician, Berber and generally Mediterranean influences, and individuals from Roman North Africa are therefore more likely to display mixed rather than strongly Sub-Saharan features. The presence of a possibly North African individual in Roman York may be at odds with popular preconceptions of a typical northern Romano-British population, but North Africans are well documented in the epigraphic record of Roman Britain (Thompson 1972; Birley 1979). However, this historical and epigraphic evidence largely predates the burial; this woman’s suggested origin would thus provide rare evidence for late Roman long-distance migration. In order to confirm whether this woman was a foreigner who may have migrated to York, oxygen and strontium isotope analysis was employed.[/i] [/QB][/QUOTE]
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