Osteometry

Osteometry is the study and measurement of the human or animal skeleton, especially in an anthropological or archaeological context.

[1] Usually it is very difficult to discriminate between different species of the same genus or family (e.g. South American camelids), and the statistical analysis of osteometric parameters is quite useful.

In bioarchaeology osteometry is useful to help answer many anthropological questions about past human populations.

For example, it may be used to determine kinship, sex, the degree of sexual dimorphism (which may be used to answer questions related to lack of nutrition) and to some extent ethnicity.

Aspects commonly studied in determining the species of very early skeletons include the length of the femur and other long bones, the capacity of the skull, the shape of the facial features and skull, the shape of the jaw and teeth, the curve of the spine, the situation and shape of the pelvis, and the location of the foramen magnum.