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ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 100 Budapest, 2008 pp. 385–397. Data for the calculation of body height on the basis of extremities of individuals living in different historical periods in the Carpathian Basin ZS. BERNERT Department of Anthropology, Hungarian Natural History Museum H-1082 Budapest, Ludovika tér 2. Hungary. E-mail: [email protected] – On the basis of individual data of several thousands of human bones excavated in the Carpathian Basin, 1) numerical correlations of the length of bones of the same individual was described. This can help us for instance when assorting bones found in ossuaries; 2) a body height calculation method considering figure and sex differences of individuals living in the Carpathian Basin was proposed; 3) tables were created showing the chances that various postcranial bones belonged to males or females based on the length; 4) stature categories were proposed corresponding to height estimation methods. With 8 tables and 5 figures. – Age estimation, body height, Carpathian Basin, human skeletal remains, ossuary, physical anthropology, stature categories. INTRODUCTION In classic anthropological publications, it is almost obligatory to deal with estimated body height of ancient people. Namely, we cannot imagine how these people looked like without knowing their height. The height is often estimated on the basis of metric data of postcranial bones. In this work, I will examine length data of long bones of people living in the Carpathian Basin. Knowing the correlations of limb bones of individuals may help in comparing different populations and sorting bones found in ossuaries. At the same time, the large number of individual data can also be used for the estimation of height of people living in the historical ages of the Carpathian Basin. Similarly, it enables the creation of stature categories and the definition of biological sex. Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 100, 2008 386 Zs. Bernert MATERIAL AND METHOD The majority of data were taken from the work of KINGA ÉRY describing the dimensions of four bones (femur, tibia, humerus and radius) of several thousand individu- als (ÉRY 1998). This is the most complete database of this character in the Carpathian Basin. I extended this pool of data using measurements collected from other series (Bala- tonlelle, cemetery of the medieval village of Báté, the motte of Edelény-Borsod, Fonyód- Bézsenypuszta, Gyugy, site No. 26 in the 62nd Street in Kaposvár, Kereki-Homokbánya, Kéthely-Melegoldal, Ordacsehi-Csereföld, Park Street in Öreglak, Somogyjád, Török- koppány, borderland of Vörs-Major, Vörs-Papkert B, Zselickislak-Töröcske). My results are based on the combined database including data of approximately 4,000 males and females. RESULTS I created empirical tables (Tables 1–2) showing individual metric data of postcranial bones, organised in rows. I arbitrarily chose the femur to be the basis of comparison. I also defined femur data categories with a range of 3 millimetres. As a result, I achieved appro- priately narrow categories while the number of such classes remained transparent. I also specified the average length of matching (i.e. of the same individual) tibiae, humeri and radii as well as the number of elements. Empirical table of matching postcranial bones of males. N = number of individu- als with comparable limb bone and femur. M = average MARTIN 1 length that belongs to a given femur length group 391−393 318.33 6 286.00 7 219.50 4 394−396 332.00 4 306.57 7 228.83 6 397−399 323.92 4 294.31 8 220.07 7 400−402 328.44 16 293.39 23 215.68 14 403−405 330.84 19 300.44 18 227.60 15 406−408 337.96 23 302.02 26 229.52 23 409−411 336.28 34 300.32 39 227.03 30 412−414 337.01 41 302.05 39 228.08 36 415−417 338.78 52 303.24 49 229.52 47 418−420 344.43 45 305.84 47 229.43 40 421−423 342.23 67 306.81 67 232.26 64 424−426 347.9 77 309.29 80 235.84 70 427−429 348.4 98 312.68 94 236.22 82 430−432 350.5 110 314.15 113 237.22 98 433−435 354.36 119 316.14 120 239.05 114 Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 100, 2008 Data for the calculation of body height in the Carpathian Basin 387 (continued) 433−435 354.36 119 316.14 120 239.05 114 436−438 355.38 128 316.15 128 240.92 111 439−441 357.48 125 318.76 122 242.87 113 442−444 360.5 152 322.06 149 243.53 135 445−447 362.78 156 324.11 155 245.47 133 448−450 365.32 142 324.49 151 246.20 130 451−453 369.06 126 326.40 134 248.01 115 454−456 369.64 158 328.10 162 248.88 133 457−459 372.23 111 331.10 114 250.91 95 460−462 376.28 123 331.97 123 251.47 106 463−465 377.88 107 332.43 101 253.61 93 466−468 378.08 91 335.10 95 254.66 80 469−471 383.42 87 337.67 95 255.29 74 472−474 383.29 77 339.01 83 257.45 67 475−477 386.21 73 340.48 69 257.98 70 478−480 389.18 59 343.38 55 259.22 57 481−483 391.77 41 346.50 36 260.98 30 484−486 395.41 47 346.12 47 261.93 41 487−489 393.68 30 348.03 30 260.23 28 490−492 402.77 26 346.48 25 266.05 21 493−495 397.67 23 350.48 20 263.72 18 496−498 401.04 13 349.73 13 265.90 10 499−501 402.54 13 354.33 12 270.08 6 502−504 412.93 7 355.31 8 270.81 8 505−507 411.11 10 354.30 9 270.83 10 508−510 421.79 7 358.08 6 275.75 6 511−513 412.33 3 360.00 3 260.50 1 514−516 425.90 5 358.33 3 286.00 3 N shows the number of individuals with comparable limb bone and femur. When thelengthofboththerightandtheleftboneofthegiventypewasknown,Iusedthe average of the two. I compared the femur category average in the table with the average length of the other four postcranial bones belonging to the same femur category. (By this method, data of the smaller number of tall and short individuals represented a greater weight.) In case of males (Table 1), the correlation was 0.997 when comparing the humerus, radius and tibia to the femur. (I have calculated only with table cells with an element number above 50). In case of females (Table 2), the correlation was 0.998 when comparing tibia to femur and humerus to femur but it was 0.990 when comparing the lengths of radius and femur. I prepared a graphic chart of data columns of Tables 1 and 2 (Figs 1–2). Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 100, 2008 388 Zs. Bernert Empirical table of matching postcranial bones of females. N = number of indi- viduals with comparable limb bone and femur. M = average MARTIN 1 length that belongs to a given femur length group 352−354 296.50 4 258.17 3 202.33 3 355−357 279.00 1 259.50 2 203.00 2 358−360 290.40 5 264.70 5 193.30 5 361−363 300.60 5 268.67 6 197.19 6 364−366 299.59 11 269.00 11 205.11 9 367−369 299.40 15 272.63 12 202.79 7 370−372 306.72 16 272.63 12 207.38 12 373−375 307.69 18 274.82 14 203.17 15 376−378 307.85 36 276.77 33 204.90 26 379−381 310.55 37 278.54 36 206.89 32 382−384 315.79 47 278.67 50 208.83 39 385−387 313.47 46 281.02 46 209.51 40 388−390 317.96 82 283.18 80 211.20 77 391−393 320.81 90 285.30 89 212.83 73 394−396 323.81 117 286.94 112 213.89 99 397−399 325.80 104 287.35 88 215.57 87 400−402 326.61 126 290.42 109 216.15 99 403−405 331.73 152 293.08 140 218.78 117 406−408 333.18 129 294.40 134 220.73 110 409−411 334.25 137 295.49 134 222.19 116 412−414 338.45 140 297.29 149 223.23 129 415−417 339.13 135 299.65 137 225.63 122 418−420 341.13 112 300.84 100 225.20 95 421−423 344.73 130 303.51 130 228.71 115 424−426 345.89 115 305.17 103 227.69 93 427−429 348.27 86 306.39 89 229.01 71 430−432 351.89 98 308.80 84 232.21 80 433−435 352.77 68 308.84 58 230.85 51 436−438 356.03 55 310.31 49 233.70 46 439−441 356.24 46 313.76 41 236.86 40 442−444 359.86 45 315.67 41 235.79 39 445−447 363.46 40 318.32 33 238.82 31 448−450 363.45 20 322.33 23 241.50 18 451−453 368.02 25 318.29 21 239.71 17 454−456 370.47 16 323.39 19 242.61 14 457−459 369.27 11 326.04 14 245.56 9 460−462 375.21 12 322.96 12 240.88 13 463−465 371.28 9 328.50 6 246.08 6 466−468 381.50 4 326.42 6 246.80 5 469−471 371.33 6 319.75 2 237.13 4 472−474 382.63 4 335.38 4 247.50 4 Annls hist.-nat.

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