Anterior femoral curvature: its utility for race identification.

The skull has been shown to possess a goodly number of true and easily recognizable racial characters and the shape of the anterior margins of the tibiotalar joint is the nearest thing to such a criterion so far reported.

Abstract

WELL-DEFINED criteria for the identification of the race of human postcranial bones are lacking at present. Perhaps the nearest thing to such a criterion so far reported is the shape of the anterior margins of the tibiotalar joint. The finding of an unusually extended joint surface in this location is regarded as a strong indication that the bearer had habitually squatted. Obviously, when it is a matter of trying to determine simply whether a postcranial skeleton comes from one or the other of two racial groups with differing social backgrounds, the finding of a squatting facet can be suggestive. I am unable to recall anything in the literature besides this joint surface alteration that is similarly helpful in identifying the race of postcranial bones. By contrast, the skull has been shown to possess a goodly number of true and easily recognizable racial characters. These include the shovelshaped incisor of the Mongoloids, the relatively broad nasal aperture of the Negroids, and the relatively narrow face of the Caucasoids (Stewart, 1954, p. 442).