脳頭蓋の形と顔面構造との緩やかな関連 : 短頭化現象問題の解決に向けて

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Correlations between neurocranial and facial measurements were examined as a step toward elucidating the causes of brachycephalization by principal component analysis and Kaiser's normal varimax rotation methods. The results obtained from 30 male and 20 female modern Japanese show that neither cranial length nor cranial breadth has any consistent associations with facial measurements across sexes, contrary to our expectations. These findings suggest that neurocranial shape and facial structure may be only loosely associated, in accordance with the degree of development of masticatory muscles. It is also noteworthy that, when a certain facial measurement is associated with either cranial length or breadth in males, it is almost always cranial breadth, not cranial length. The difference in the way of connecting with other characters between cranial length and breadth, the former of which has been shown to be associated exclusively with certain postcranial measurements, may be one of the reasons why brachycephalization and dolichocephalization mutually and irregularly occur in a geographic area.
国立科学博物館の論文