Does race have anything to do with one's bone structure?

Question

I'm just curious. I know at least some of it does.

I really want to learn more of "ethnic anthropology," and how you can determine someone's race based solely off their skeletal structure.

Answer 1

Yes.

You need to look up some sites for this, it's quite complicated.

http://dienekes.110mb.com/articles/anthr...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniometry

http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/for...

http://dienekes.awardspace.com/calc/rac/

The normal procedure is to very carefully measure up multiple distances between specific points on the skull, and compare them to known populations. It will normally becoming fairly obvious where the person came from, with just a few fuzzy areas, like Southern Egypt and the Horn of Africa. These people often have a very Caucasian skull shape, and at that point you have to look at the teeth to tell them apart from Europeans. The Ainu of Japan also have a very Caucasian skull shape. If you go back more than 30,000 years (paleo-anthropology) all the racial groups become indistinct. Europeans show African limb length and protruding jaws, that kind of thing.

Limb length is a clue to ancestry. People from hotter climates have longer arms and legs, and can be be used in a few cases to help identify ancestry.

Lapps 79%

modern Inuit 81.5%

Belgium 82.5%

S.African white 83.2%

Yugoslav 83.75%

American white 82.6%

Kalahari Bushman 83.4%

New Mexico Indian 84.6%

S.African black 86.4%

Arizona Indian 85.5%

Melanesian 84.8%

Pygmy 85.1%

Egyptian 84.9%

American Black 85.25%

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

Teeth are a very good method of pin pointing someones ancestry. Black Africans teeth are very different to Europeans and Asians (much bigger, thicker enamel, complex molars).

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

All of these methods have been used on the ancient Egyptians. If you are interested in that kind of anthropology that's a good argument to study, as you'll get a good feel as to how the information is used.

http://monarch.gsu.edu/WebRoot$/fwilliam...

Answer 2

yes.  forensic scientist can use skeletal bones to determine race.  the physical morphology of a person can be determined to some extent but what is lying underneath the skin.  i know that indian people have bigger eyes so the eye sockets in the skull are bigger, for example.

Answer 3

Yes,I study ancient peoples in Britain. The neolithic (new stone age) people tend to be  small and slender, with long heads and high cheek bones--a type known as mediterranean. in the bronze age a small amount of settlers came who had round skulls and heavier jaws/brow ridges and who were quite a bit taller & stockier--this type is known as Alpine.

    Later Norse settlers tended to be long headed but their skulls and their height made them very different in appearance from the earliest long headedt ribes-they were 'nordic'