Year of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Anthropology (Forensic Anthropology Option)

Department or School/College

Anthropology

Committee Chair

Randall Skelton

Commitee Members

Meradeth Snow, Mark Heirigs

Keywords

infraorbital foramen, ancestry, maxillae, t-test, NMDID, morphometrics

Publisher

University of Montana

Subject Categories

Biological and Physical Anthropology

Abstract

Skeletal remains provide a variety of information about a species population and the sub populations within that species. The infraorbital foramen has previously been used to understand dietary niches, paleoecology, the nervous system, and the effect of the nervous system on other bone functions in the facial region in humans and other mammals. In medicine, the precise location of the infraorbital foramen has been studied to aid and guide maxillo-facial procedures and surgeries. In this research project, the null hypothesis states that the placement and location of the infraorbital foramen in relation to other facial landmarks were the same between modern North American populations in three ancestral categories: Native Americans, White, and Black.

The collection, stated above, was chosen due the abundance of well-preserved facial and maxillo-skeletal documentation via computed tomography scans and x-rays. This project took note of previous researchers and developed new identification of twelve maxillo-facial landmarks in relation to the infraorbital foramen to ascertain an explicit location of the infraorbital foramen in 199 modern human individuals.

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2022 Anna-Marie Lynn David