0000000000407008
AUTHOR
F.w. Rösing
Comparative statistical studies on the physical anthropology of the late Medieval period (A.D. 1000–1500)
Continuing previous studies on preceding temporal periods, a total of 162 skeletal series from the late Medieval period are analysed. The dendrogram reveals an east cluster as in the other periods but a west cluster is not evident possibly because western Europe is represented by very few series. Moreover, we find a Scandinavian and a Turk cluster. Regional or ethnic pooling of the original series gives an affinity structure which is more influenced by geographic proximity than by ethnic relation. This structure predominantly reflects differentiations of skull width and length and to a lesser degree of facial height. The diachronic trend appears again, but in this period there is only a sli…
A classification of European skulls from three time periods.
We analyze the taxonomic structure of European populations at three time periods, the Early Middle Ages, the Late Middle Ages and the Recent Period. The data consist of sample means for 10 cranial variables based on 137, 108, and 183 samples for the three periods. Clustering by standard numerical taxonomic procedures reveals that the data are represented only poorly as hierarchic classifications. The clusters form significant and moderately strong associations with an arrangement of the samples by regions (geography) and by language family. Whereas during the early period, language family showed a stronger association with clusters based on cranial morphology, in the recent populations thes…