Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Three Crania Housed at the University of Montana Physical Anthropology Lab

The purpose of this research was to attempt to identify the population affinity of three crania (UMFC 103, 104, and 120), housed at the University of Montana Physical Anthropology Lab, using multivariate statistical analyses. A database collected by Dr. Hanihara and another collected by researchers at the University of Michigan were used for comparative purposes. Multiple populations from both databases were chosen so as to be representative of various Asian, African, Indian, and Native American populations. Two variations of each of the databases were used in the following statistical analyses: principal components analysis and discriminant function analysis. It was shown that the Michigan database was more effective at classifying UMFC 103, 104, and 120 into one of the predetermined populations than the Hanihara database. Based on these analyses UMFC 103 is tentatively classified as Taiwanese aboriginal and UMFC 120 as South Chinese. These classifications are based on the discriminant function analysis with the Michigan database and all show significant typicality probabilities