High-dimensional plots in the evaluation of interpopulation differences in human tooth size

Area of Science:

• Anthropology
• Forensic Science
• Bioarchaeology

Background:

• Understanding human population variation is crucial in anthropology and forensic science.
• Tooth morphology provides valuable insights into population genetics and evolutionary history.
• Traditional methods for analyzing skeletal data can be limited in scope.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of high-dimensional plots for assessing interpopulation differences in tooth size.
• To compare multivariate statistical analyses with Andrews plots for population discrimination.
• To analyze tooth size variation across diverse human populations.

Main Methods:

• Collected buccolingual and mesiodistal tooth diameters from Paraguayan Lengua Indians, skeletal South African Blacks, living South African Blacks, and living South African Caucasoids.
• Employed canonical variate analyses and stepwise discriminant analyses for multivariate population discrimination.
• Generated and compared Andrews plots for males and females within each population group.

Main Results:

• Multivariate analyses demonstrated significant differences in tooth size dimensions between the studied populations.
• Andrews plots revealed distinct graphical patterns for Black and Caucasian groups.
• Paraguayan Amerindians displayed tooth size characteristics that shared similarities with both Black and Caucasian groups.

Conclusions:

• High-dimensional plotting, specifically Andrews plots, offers a valuable complementary tool for visualizing and analyzing population-level tooth size variation.
• The findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of human craniofacial diversity and population affinities.
• This approach can enhance the interpretation of skeletal remains in anthropological and forensic contexts.