Study of Nubians: Black Americans & Egyptians closest fit

[zarahan]

A tropical people, African-American limb proportions have long been used as a proxy to study height and stature of ancient Egyptian populations, who cluster closer to the Americans than Europeans and other groups. Extended to Nubians in a recent study, results are the same. Though distant in time and space, the Black Americans, ancient Egyptians and ancient Nubians cluster together- indices with some differences- overall, the closest fit.




"Stature is a component of the biological profile along with age, sex, and ancestry. In bioarchaeological contexts, changes in stature or body proportions over time can indicate trends in the health of a population. However, stature regression equations are likely to be inaccurate when applied to populations temporally and geographically distant from their reference sample. This study tested the accuracy of previously published regression equations on a well-preserved medieval Nubian collection and hypothesized that stature would be significantly overestimated. The study sample was drawn from a skeletal collection representing three Upper Nubian medieval cemeteries (300-1500AD) excavated by the British Museum along the Fourth Cataract in Sudan - sites 3-J-10, 3-J-11, and 4-M-142. Based on preservation of required skeletal elements, living stature was calculated for 36 males and 33 females using the revised Fully method (Raxter et al. 2006).These data were compared to point estimates from regression equations for modern American blacks (Trotter and Gleser 1952) and ancient Egyptians (Raxter et al. 2008). Although distant in both time and space, these groups represented the closest proxies for Nubians among previously published studies..

Results indicated significant differences between both sets of estimates and the Fully revised method living statures (p<0.001). Both Trotter and Gleser (1952) and Raxter (2008) equations overestimated living stature in this sample of medieval Nubians. These results confirmed the need for new stature regression equations for males and females in this region and time period. Equations were then developed using single and multiple long bone measurements.. The results of the one-way t-test confirm the hypothesis: American black and Ancient Egyptian stature regression equations systematically overestimate height in medieval Nubians by an average of 1.72-2.16cm. However, the results of the ANOVA suggest that the resulting point stature estimates are not significantly different from the revised Fully statures."
--Niespodziewanski Streetman, Emily (2014). Testing stature equations on a medieval Upper Nubian skeletal sample. Mich State Univ. 83 AnnMt AJPA 2014

[zarahan]

Strangely enough, a 2016 book purporting to detail scientific methods in studying ancient
Egyptian populations skips any substantial discussion of limb proportions even though
this is a well established, valid scientific technique in studying populations, including
Native American and European ones. In fact a 2014 study of the Roman era Dakhleh Oasis
(Beluze et al 2014- Exploration of Adult Body Shape and Limb Proportions at
Kellis 2, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt) uses limb proportions to analyze the population.

And indeed limb studies to estimate stature using Black American populations, have been
around since the 1950s. It is not a product of the 1960s, or the 1980s/90's "Black Athena" era,
but decades before. Black Americans are used because there are readily available samples and they
are a tropically derived people, useful for comparison with other people from tropical zones
(such as in southern Egypt) and people in more colder areas.

Yet in a book that claims to offer a primer on scientific techniques that might be profitably applied in
quote: "Egyptology broadly, and in Egyptian archaeology in particular.", the authors conveniently
skip limb proportions, a long established, modern, valid scientific technique.
Most curious...



egyptsearchreloaded.proboards.com/post/18212