Sex determination in a brazilian sample from cranial morphometric parameters

Orientador: Luiz Francesquini JúniorTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de PiracicabaResumo: A necessidade da identificação humana enraíza-se na inata natureza social do homem, zelo pelos seus direitos de propriedade e identidade, e incoercíveis anseios de diferenciar-se dos seus semelhantes. Em decorrência desses princípios e das transformações acontecidas nas organizações coletivas que ele integra, nos dias atuais, já não se discutem os alcances legais nem as repercussões sociais e midiáticas daquela. Nesse contexto, a determinação do sexo, passo-chave para a reconstrução do perfil biológico individual, constitui um dos alvos capitais dos peritos médico-legistas e odontolegistas, quando responsáveis pelo exame antropológico de ossadas incólumes ou fragmentadas. No presente estudo, foram realizadas onze medidas, quatro no plano sagital e sete no horizontal, em dois grupos de 186 crânios cada, com 101 do sexo masculino e 85 do feminino para as do plano sagital, e 100 e 86, respectivamente, para as concernentes ao horizontal, de sujeitos com idades compreendidas entre 18 e 94 anos ao momento do óbito, pertencentes ao Biobanco osteológico e tomográfico Professor Doutor Eduardo Daruge da Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba da Universidade Estadual de Campinas, com os objetivos de instituir um método confiável para determinar o sexo e elaborar protótipos matemáticos, capazes de auxiliar nas ações de investigação ou identificação. Constatou-se que das medidas efetivadas (Lâmbda-Násio, Lâmbda-Rínio, Lâmbda-Espinha Nasal Anterior, Rínio-Espinha Nasal Anterior, Zigomaxilar-Zigomaxilar, Lâmbda-Forame Incisivo, Lâmbda-Zigomaxilar Direito, Lâmbda-Zigomaxilar Esquerdo, Básio-Forame Incisivo, Básio-Zigomaxilar Direito e Básio-Zigomaxilar Esquerdo), só a Lâmbda-Espinha Nasal Anterior e Rínio-Espinha Nasal Anterior, no plano sagital, e a Zigomaxilar-Zigomaxilar e Lâmbda-Forame Incisivo, no horizontal, mostraram-se significativamente dimórficas. Para cada par delas, conceberam-se dois modelos matemáticos preditivos de sexo, um de regressão logística e outro de árvore de classificação condicional, com índices de acerto de 78,5% e 77,42%, e de 68,28% e 72,04%, respectivamente. Concluiu-se que existe a possibilidade de aplicar os referidos subsídios à antropologia forense, como ferramentas coadjuvantes nos processos de investigação ou identificaçãoAbstract: The need for human identification is rooted in man's innate social nature, zeal for his property and identity rights, and unquenchable yearnings to differentiate himself from his peers. In consequence of these principles and the transformations that took place in the collective organizations that he is part of, nowadays, legal scopes neither social nor media repercussions of it are no longer discussed. In this context, sex determination, key step for the reconstruction of the individual biological profile, is one of the major goals of forensic medical and odontology experts, when they are responsible for anthropological examination of intact or fragmented skeletons. In the present study, eleven measurements were carried out, four in the sagittal plane and seven in the horizontal plane, in two groups of 186 skulls each, with 101 from males and 85 from females for those of the sagittal plane, and 100 and 86, respectively, for those concerning the horizontal, of subjects aged between 18 and 94 years at the time of death, belonging to the Osteological and Tomographic Biobank Professor Doctor Eduardo Daruge of the Piracicaba Dental School of the University of Campinas, with the aims of establishing a reliable method to determine sex and to elaborate mathematical prototypes, capable of assisting in investigation or identification actions. It was found that of the measurements performed (Lambda-Nasion, Lambda-Rhinion, Lambda-Nasospinale, Rhinion-Nasospinale, Zygomaxillare-Zygomaxillare, Lambda-Incisive Foramen, Lambda-Right Zygomaxillare, Lambda-Left Zygomaxillare, Basion-Incisive Foramen, Basion-Right Zygomaxillare and Basion-Left Zygomaxillare), only the Lambda-Nasospinale and Rhinion-Nasospinale, in the sagittal plane, and the Zygomaxillare-Zygomaxillare and Lambda-Incisive Foramen, in the horizontal plane, were significantly dimorphic. For each pair of them, two predictive mathematical models of sex were formulated, one of logistic regression and another of conditional inference trees, with accuracy rates of 78,5% and 77,42%, and of 68,28% and 72,04%, respectively. It was concluded that there is the possibility of applying the aforementioned data in forensic anthropology, as auxiliary tools in the investigation or identification processesDoutoradoAnatomiaDoutor em Biologia Buco-DentalCAPE

Virtual Anthropology: forensic applications to cranial skeletal remains from the Spanish Civil War

Biological and forensic anthropologists face limitations while studying skeletal remains altered by taphonomic alterations and perimortem trauma, such as in remains from the Spanish Civil War. However, virtual anthropology techniques can optimize the information inferred from fragmented and deformed remains by generating and restoring three-dimensional bone models. We applied a low-cost 3D modelling methodology based on photogrammetry to develop novel forensic applications of virtual 3D skull reconstruction, assembly, restoration and ancestry estimation. Crania and mandible fragments from five Spanish Civil War victims were reconstructed with high accuracy, and only one cranium could not be assembled due to extensive bone loss. Virtual mirroring successfully restored reconstructed crania, producing 3D models with reduced deformation and perimortem trauma. High correlation between traditional and virtual craniofacial measurements confirmed that 3D models are suitable for forensic applications. Craniometric databases of world-wide and Spanish populations were used to assess the potential of discriminant analysis to estimate population ancestry. Our protocol correctly estimated the continental origin of 86.7 % of 15 crania of known origin, and despite low morphological differentiation within European populations, correctly identified 54.5 % as Spanish and 27.3 % of them with high posterior probabilities. Two restored crania from the Civil War were estimated as Spanish, and one as a non-Spanish European. Results were not conclusive for one cranium and did not confirm previous archeological hypotheses. Overall, our research shows the potential to assess the presence of foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and highlights the added value of 3D-virtual techniques in forensic anthropology

The Abode of the Other (Museums in German Concentration Camps 1933-1945)

In major German concentration camps, museums were set up with the aim of collecting exhibits and displaying them within a Rassenkunde (race science) framework. As the discourse of racial anthropology was built on the rhetoric of the difference between the ‘pure’ races and people with ‘inferior hereditary quality,’ SS museums put on display ‘pieces of evidence’ with a view to rendering present and visible that which was absent and invisible: the hierarchical order of different races. Thus, collections displayed in SS museums in concentration camps were instrumental in the process of defining the Aryan Übermensch (superhuman) as the personification of all desirable physical, cultural and intellectual attributes, born to conquer and rule the world as a member of the Herrenvolk (master race), and the non-Aryan, above all the Jewish Untermensch (subhuman) as his opposite, a radically other and barely human, suitable only for menial chores. The first museum established in German concentration camps was opened in Dachau early in the 1930s. Similar museums worked in other German concentration camps (Buchenwald, Mauthausen and Auschwitz). The richest was the museum in Gusen I, the sub-camp of Mauthausen. In autumn 1940, when the SS began with the construction of a railway between KZ Gusen I and St Georgen railway station, a grave-yard from the Bronze-Age was found. All the finds were housed in an archaeological museum that was established at the Museumsbaracke (museum barrack) within the camp. By the side of archaeological findings, human skins, skulls and body parts were put on view. At the time of the liberation of Gusen I, on 5 May 1945, a collection of 286 body parts was found and a voluminous album with fragements of tattooed human skin. Today, from all the SS museums’ anthropological exhibits not a single one is on display in the museum exhibitions set up in the former concentration camps. So far, these establishments also escaped the attention of scholarly research. Thus, when I interviewed historians employed in Mauthausen Memorial Museum and in Gusen Visitors’ Centre, in 2005, they were completely unaware of the existence of above-mentioned museums during the war time

Racism and Education

This research focuses primarily on the effects of imperialism on the spread of racism. By evaluating specific historical relations, such as the British Empire and the Xhosa of Southern Africa, race relations are examined and their effect on American students of Social Studies clarified. Students are not always adequately instructed on the role of race in many historical events, and too often the role of minorities is minimized or even deleted from teaching materials. By understanding the legacy of imperialism, teachers may use carefully selected texts within their classrooms to help alleviate the disproportion of history taught in schools and elevate their awareness of race issues today, as well as creating a diverse curriculum for all students

Racism and Education

This research focuses primarily on the effects of imperialism on the spread of racism. By evaluating specific historical relations, such as the British Empire and the Xhosa of Southern Africa, race relations are examined and their effect on American students of Social Studies clarified. Students are not always adequately instructed on the role of race in many historical events, and too often the role of minorities is minimized or even deleted from teaching materials. By understanding the legacy of imperialism, teachers may use carefully selected texts within their classrooms to help alleviate the disproportion of history taught in schools and elevate their awareness of race issues today, as well as creating a diverse curriculum for all students

Sexual dimorphism in white South African crania

Original published work submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2016Sexual dimorphism is one of four critical factors assessed by forensic anthropologists when compiling biological profiles. The current study used geometric morphometric methods to analyse various aspects of sexual dimorphism in white South African crania to significantly contribute to current forensic standards for this underrepresented population. As edentulous crania are a major contributing factor to the low number of publications on white South African populations, the question arose as to how tooth loss affects cranial structures and the accuracy of sex and ancestry estimation. Two hundred and twenty nine crania were digitised using landmarks and sliding semilandmarks, both globally and for a number of cranial subsets. Although a number of effects were identified when the skull was analysed globally, only the maxillary alveolar ridges were significantly affected when subsets were analysed individually. As both upper facial height and palate shape were significantly altered by tooth loss, the effects of tooth loss on cranial structures and sex and ancestry estimations were investigated. Next, to parse out the mechanisms by which sexual dimorphism causes morphological variation, overall sexual dimorphism, common allometry and nonallometric sexual dimorphism were individually assessed. Global and subset data were studied and the effects of sexual dimorphism and allometry were found to be universal, with significant differences being observed between the sexes both globally and regionally. A significant non-allometric component was, however, only found to contribute to the shape of the zygomatic bone. Finally, the accuracy of 17 widely used traditional cranial measurements was compared to all possible interlandmark distances (ILDs) attainable from 45 fixed landmarks. Discriminant functions derived using the ILDs compared well to those of previous work on white South Africans, thus demonstrating the similarity between traditional and 3-D methods. Finally, custom discriminant functions were created for a number of cranial subsets and for the cranium in its entirety. The subsets achieved sexing accuracies ranging between 71.8% and 83.7%, with the nasomaxilla proving most accurate. The overall cranial function attained a cross-validated sexing accuracy of 88.2%. These functions are critical for sex estimation not only for intact crania, but also for the innumerable fragmentary cranial remains recovered regularly in South Africa.MT201

‘A Very Hell of Horrors’? The Haitian Revolution and the Early Transatlantic Haitian Gothic

This article explores the Gothicisation of the Haitian Revolution in the transatlantic discourse during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As it argues, the Gothic mode has to be understood as a reaction to the profound challenges that the Haitian Revolution posed to a transatlantic world built on the slave economy. Pro-slavery and pro-colonialist authors demonised this successful slave revolution and one of the first anti-colonial revolutions in modern history by resorting frequently to the ‘hegemonic Haitian Gothic.’ By contrast, early Haitian leaders and some British radicals appropriated this mode, turning it into the ideologically contrary ‘radical Haitian Gothic.

The UCLA Fowler Museum & Collaborative Repatriation: An Analysis of NAGPRA Compliance Working with California Indian Tribes

Museums and archaeology are forever entrenched in the legacy of American colonialism. Early American anthropologists established their careers by studying American Indian songs, stories, kinship systems, food, material culture, languages, and bodies. Established in 1901, the University of California, Berkeley’s anthropology department began funding archaeologists’ excavations of California Indian graves against Native American requests. But the1960’s saw an emergence of social justice activism including the Native American Repatriation Movement (NARM), demanding the return of all Native ancestors and cultural objects stored at museums nationwide. As a result of NARM and the work of Native American and Indigenous activists, lawyers, students and allies, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed in 1990. Working collaboratively with tribes for decades, the UCLA Fowler Museum is widely regarded as the premier example of a successful repatriation approach within the University of California (UC) system. To date, the Fowler has repatriated nearly all Native American human remains in its collection, and continues to work to bring the last ancestors to their communities. In this thesis I use archival research to explain the history of repatriation at the UC, California Indian resistance and how UCLA differs from other UC’s in its repatriation approach. I examine two NAGPRA case studies at the Fowler Museum to explain how UCLA and the Fowler took a different approach to NAGPRA, bringing more ancestors home than any other UC