初论古代人群间颅骨测量性状的差异度

Discussion on the Difference degree of Skull Metric Traits between Ancient Populations

本文中的颅骨测量性状(Metric Traits),指通过测量获取的、代表颅骨形态特征的一组长度、角度和指数数据;属于生物统计学中连续性变量(Data of Continuous Variable)的一种。用一个群体中所有颅骨测量数据的均值,构建代表颅骨形态特征的数据组,通过聚类分析对比不同人群之间的差异度,在关于古代人群颅骨形态特征的研究中,是一种常用的方法。聚类分析的结果,可以通过系统发育树图等方式.

Examining craniometric variation between ancient populations has been commonly employed in Chinese osteoarchaeology.To test the efficiency of this method,this paper randomly chose five groups of ancient human skeletal remains from China to analyze the phenotypic resemblance within and between each group.Low levels of population differentiation within groups imply that this method is valid and can be used as another line of evidence to support debates in the evolutionary history of ancient populations and their cultures.