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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Comparative statistical studies on the physical anthropology of the late Medieval period (A.D. 1000–1500)

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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 slight increase of dissimilarity. One astonishing new result is that skull width measurements increase sharply in the west and decrease in the east, so that the earlier pattern of regional difference is reversed.