The Evaluation and Refinement of Nonmetric Sex and Ancestry Assessment Methods in Modern Japanese and Thai Individuals
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2016 The Evaluation and Refinement of Nonmetric Sex and Ancestry Assessment Methods in Modern Japanese and Thai Individuals Sean D. Tallman University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Tallman, Sean D., "The Evaluation and Refinement of Nonmetric Sex and Ancestry Assessment Methods in Modern Japanese and Thai Individuals. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2016. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3880 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sean D. Tallman entitled "The Evaluation and Refinement of Nonmetric Sex and Ancestry Assessment Methods in Modern Japanese and Thai Individuals." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Anthropology. Dawnie W. Steadman, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Amy Z. Mundorff, Lee Meadows Jantz, Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) The Evaluation and Refinement of Nonmetric Sex and Ancestry Assessment Methods in Modern Japanese and Thai Individuals A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Sean D. Tallman August 2016 Copyright © 2016 Sean D. Tallman All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation – exactly twenty years after attending my first undergraduate course in anthropology – could not have been completed without the assistance, support, inspiration, and encouragement from numerous people. In particular, my dissertation committee, composed of Drs. Dawnie W. Steadman, Lee Meadows Jantz, and Amy Z. Mundorff, provided thoughtful and collegial conversations, suggestions, and guidance throughout my tenure at the University of Tennessee. Their interest in my success clearly extends well beyond the completion of this dissertation, for which I am grateful. Special thanks are owed to Dr. Steadman for advising me during both my M.A. and Ph.D. studies, in addition to understanding and supporting my ventures into the working world between degree programs. This study would not have been possible without the welcoming and gracious hosts at Chiba and Jikei Universities in Japan and Khon Kaen and Chiang Mai Universities in Thailand, who all provided seamless access to their impressive and important skeletal collections. The research collaborations and friendships that were established during this study will no doubt last for years to come, and I hope to one day repay the hospitality. At Chiba University’s Department of Bioenvironmental Medicine, Dr. Yoshiharu Matsuno and Ms. Chie Koga made me feel right at home by including me in academic and extracurricular functions that thoroughly introduced me to Japanese culture. At Jikei University’s School of Medicine, special thanks are owed to Drs. Yoshinori Kawai and Yoshikatsu Negishi, who enthusiastically allowed me to collect data over two summers. At Khon Kaen University’s Department of Anatomy, much gratitude is owed to Drs. Panya Tuamsuk, Nawaporn (Yoo) Techataweewan, and Nancy Tayles for their hospitality and genuine interest in my research. I was heartily supplied with great food, laughter, iii and science in equal measure. A special thank you to Dr. Pasuk Mahakkanukrauh and Mr. Sitthiporn (Neu) Ruengdit at Chiang Mai University’s Department of Forensic Osteology for welcoming me and showing me around Chiang Mai. I eagerly look forward to returning to Japan and Thailand in the near future. Such a project involving travel to two Asian countries would not have been possible without substantial financial support from granting institutions. Namely, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science’s (JSPS) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI) provided travel, living, and research expenses to/in Japan during the summer months of 2014 (1414742: “EAPSI: Improving Identifications of Japanese Individuals in Forensic Contexts”). Additionally, the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Graduate Research Fellowship Program in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (GRF-STEM) provided travel and research expenses to/in Japan and Thailand during the summer months of 2015 (2014-DN-BX-0002: “The Evaluation and Refinement of Nonmetric Sex and Ancestry Assessment Methods in Japanese and Thai Individuals”). Lastly, thank you to my family and friends who have unwaveringly supported and encouraged me over the years in my anthropological endeavors, whether it be moving across the country several times, international fieldwork that rendered communication nearly impossible, or returning to graduate school as a mostly “non-traditional” student. While far too numerous to list here, they know who they are and hopefully know how much they mean to me. iv ABSTRACT Effective biological profiles in forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology depend on the development, validation, and refinement of population-specific methods. However, most methods were developed in North America on individuals of African and European descent, and it is unlikely that such methods can generate accurate biological profiles for Asian individuals. Moreover, Native Americans have served as biological proxies for Asians due to their distantly shared genetic history, resulting in largely untested assumptions that Native Americans and Asians are homogenous and share nonmetric sexually dimorphic skeletal features and a unique suite of cranial traits that can be used in ancestry assessment. This study explores nonmetric sexual dimorphism and cranial nonmetric variability in 1,397 modern Japanese and Thai individuals 17 to 96 years of age. The first objective tests and refines the methods based on 15 traits used to predict sex from the cranium, pelvis, clavicle, and humerus that were developed on non-Asian populations. The second objective establishes 37 cranial and mandibular trait frequencies to determine if the Japanese and Thai differ from each other and from Native Americans in trait expressions. Further, the affects of sex, age, population, inter-trait correlations, intraobserver error, and secular change on the traits are assessed. The results indicate that population-specific sex assessment methods perform better in classifying the Japanese and Thai compared to those developed on non-Asian populations, producing correct classification rates of 66-98%. Additionally, the majority of cranial and mandibular traits used in ancestry assessment significantly differ in frequency between the Japanese and Thai, resulting in correct classification rates of 60-90%. Further, the Japanese and Thai are different from Native Americans in the expression of nonmetric traits. However, sex, v age, population, intraobserver error, and secular change affect many nonmetric traits, thereby complicating their use in sex and ancestry assessment. This study demonstrates that the Japanese, Thai, and Native Americans are not skeletally homogenous, as they exhibit differences in sexual dimorphism and in the expression of cranial trait frequencies due to unique population histories. Moreover, the findings of this research underscore the importance of developing population-specific biological profile methods for diverse Asian populations, such as those provided here. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................. 6 Organization of Chapters ............................................................................................................ 8 A Note on Terminology .............................................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER II: Sex And Ancestry Assessment In Biological Anthropology ................................ 11 Sex Estimation .......................................................................................................................... 11 Metric sex estimation ............................................................................................................ 14 Traditional morphological sex assessment ........................................................................... 16 Non-traditional morphological sex assessment .................................................................... 22 Ancestry Assessment ................................................................................................................ 25 A brief history of race in physical anthropology .................................................................