Biodistance analysis of Hispanic skeletons

Abstract

The morphoscopic traits used to assign the term Hispanic to a skeleton constitute mainly a mixture of characteristics that have been assigned by anthropologists to Asian and Caucasian ancestry groups. Therefore, the morphological characteristics for the population termed Hispanic are not well defined. The aim of this study is to conduct a biodistance analysis of skeletons of Hispanic ancestry from Puerto Rico. The purpose of this is to assess how similar their morphoscopic characteristics are to other populations termed Hispanic as well as populations termed Asian. The analysis will be conducted by taking craniometric measurements. Pre-Colombian as well as modern skeletons from Puerto Rico will be examined and compared to other Hispanic as well as Asian populations that form part of the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank (FDB). Results from this study will help characterize Hispanic skeletal variation. In addition, this study will discuss the complexities of Hispanic classification in forensic anthropological contexts.