Sex determination is one of the principal aims when examining human skeletal remains. One method for sex determination is based on metric criteria using discriminant functions. However, discriminant function sexing formulas are population-specific. In the present study, we determined the use of the foramen magnum as well as the occipital condyles for sex determination on adults from a modern Greek population. Seven parameters were examined (4 obtained from the foramen magnum; 3 obtained from the occipital condyles) and the sample consisted of 154 adult crania (77 males and 77 females). The results indicate that the foramen magnum region exhibits sexual dimorphism and the mean values for all parameters were higher in males than females. In comparison, the occipital condyles provide a higher determination of the correct sex than the foramen magnum. The combination of the occipital condyle variables allowed for the development of discriminant functions that predicted the correct sex in 74&#x25; of all cases. Finally, although other anatomical regions can discriminate the sexes with higher accuracy, the functions developed in this study could be cautiously used in cases of fragmented crania.

Maria-Eleni Chovalopoulou

Andreas Bertsatos

Estimating Sex of Modern Greeks Based on the Foramen Magnum Region

Sushama A. Khopkar

Suvi M. Virtanen

Sangita Kulathinal

Corrigendum to &#x201c;Anthropometric Characteristics of Underprivileged Adolescents: A Study from Urban Slums of India&#x201d;

Hardships that face transmigrants working in agriculture include the potential for drug use. Reliant on village-based networks that facilitate border crossing and developing a plan for a destination within this country, transmigrants who try new drugs/alcohol and/or continue on accustomed drugs/alcohol are facilitated in these endeavors through locally generated networks as alternative forms of access and support. Seven cases of undocumented men from Mexico are reviewed to show how use of illicit drugs is minimally affected by economic success and time in the United States, or village-based networks that first facilitated entry into this country. Prior conditions, especially childhood difficulties and search for socioeconomic autonomy, precipitate new and/or continuing drug use within the United States on this side of the border, where both forms of drug use are facilitated by locally generated networks.

Keith V. Bletzer

Shifting from Village-Based Networks to Locally Generated Networks: Undocumented Mexican Agricultural Workers Who Use/Used Hard Drugs

The origins and cultural affiliations of the first sedentary agricultural and pottery-producing communities in the southern Maya lowlands remain hotly debated. Here, we describe the discovery of a new early farming settlement at the small site of Buenavista-Nuevo San Jos&#xe9; on Lake Peten Itza in northern Guatemala. Evidence for a pre-Mamom occupation (1000&#x2013;700 BC) at this site was found in the deepest fill layers overlying bedrock, including pottery diagnostic of this time period and the remains of a post-in-bedrock dwelling. Because the evidence for this early settlement is from secondary contexts and because four radiocarbon dates cover a broad chronological range, the best evidence for the pre-Mamom occupation consists of the ceramics recovered in the excavations. The closest links of the pre-Mamom pottery at Buenavista-Nuevo San Jos&#xe9; are with the Eb complex at Tikal and the Cunil complex of Cahal Pech, Belize, suggesting strong interactions between these early groups. The discovery of pre-Mamom pottery at Buenavista also suggests that the early farmers were more widespread than previously suggested. Furthermore, the presence of Olmecoid symbols incised on the pre-Mamom pottery at Buenavista-Nuevo San Jos&#xe9; indicates that these early communities were immersed in broad pan-Mesoamerican spheres of interaction.

Jeanette E. Castellanos

Antonia E. Foias

The Earliest Maya Farmers of Peten: New Evidence from Buenavista-Nuevo San Jos&#xe9;, Central Peten Lakes Region, Guatemala

For hundreds upon hundreds of years, humans lived in small settlements where most individuals, if not all, were linked by kinship ties. Many of these villages were occupied for generations and thus their occupants had a strong connection to the place. The villages were politically and economically autonomous, yet they were connected with adjacent villages by means of barter and intermarriage. Within a relatively short period of time, centuries-long occupied small villages were left vacant and replaced by fewer but much larger settlements identified as cities. In contrast to the rural based villages, cities began to house much larger numbers of residents, who not only were unfamiliar with each other but also were mainly concerned with their own well-being. Recent archaeological research carried out in the immediate periphery of Huari provides crucial information that indicates that the growth of Huari paralleled the abandonment of rural villages apparently in the midst of increasing conflict. The rural settlement of Huaqanmarka was occupied for several centuries, yet it was abandoned within a short period of time simultaneously with the desertion of other adjacent settlements.

Lidio M. Valdez

J. Ernesto Valdez

From Rural to Urban: Archaeological Research in the Periphery of Huari, Ayacucho Valley, Peru

Background. Evolutionary forces such as founder effect resulted in reproductive isolation and reduced genetic diversity may have led to ethnic variation in the facial appearance and other features like fingerprints pattern. Aim. To determine the pattern of facial proportion based on neoclassical facial canon. The associations between facial proportions and thumbprint patterns were also investigated. Subject and Methods. A total of 534 subjects of 18&#x2013;25 years of age participated. Direct sensing and photographs methods were used to determine fingerprint and facial features, respectively. Fisher&#x2019;s Exact test was used to test for association between variables. Results. It was observed that in both males and females there was no (0&#x25;) occurrence of classical canon of facial proportion. There was also no association between sex and facial proportions. A significant association was found in between thumbprint patterns and vertical class III neoclassical facial proportion only when the frequency of both left and right thumbprint patterns was considered a single entity. There is no significant association between the thumbprint patterns of the right and left thumbs with vertical horizontal facial proportions in male and female participants. It was observed that right and left thumbs have more tendency of significance with facial proportion in males and females, respectively. Conclusion. Fingerprint pattern and its associated features may be controlled by a different mechanism such that the two may correlate differently with other features as the case may be with facial features.

Lawan Hassan Adamu

Samuel Adeniyi Ojo

Barnabas Danborno

Sunday Samuel Adebisi

Magaji Garba Taura

Evaluation of Facial Proportions and Their Association with Thumbprint Patterns among Hausa Ethnic Group

About this journal

Journal profile

Meet the editorial board

Editor spotlight

Find out more

This journal's articles appear in a wide range of abstracting and indexing databases, and are covered by numerous other services that aid discovery and access. Find out more about where and how the content of this journal is available.

Journal of Anthropology