Brief communication: an update on stature estimation in prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio

We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. The regression equations are based on skeletal height as the dependent variable and various postcranial elements and combinations of elements as the independent variables. A total of 171 individuals, 95 males and 76 females, make up the sample. The present sample includes the 64 individuals we previously used for stature estimation (Sciulli et al.: Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 83:275-280, 1990) and 107 additional individuals distributed more widely in time and space. The present more inclusive sample, however, shows the same proportional contributions to skeletal height of each skeletal height component as the previous sample. This result suggests that these proportions were a consistent feature of the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. Because the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio were characterized by relatively long legs and distal elements of the limbs, stature estimation from regressions based on East Asian populations, which express in general relatively short legs and distal limb elements, will overestimate stature in Native Americans of Ohio and, possibly, all Eastern Woodlands Native Americans.