estimation of human stature using program stature

Lenka Polcerová - Miroslav Králík

However, to our best knowledge, there is no available free software which would allow estimation of human stature from several different measurements of bones and allow the user to choose (based on the analysed individual) from many offered reference populations. In program Fordisc 3.0 (JANTZ, OUSLEY 2005) the estimation of human stature is possible but this program is not available for free and the range of methods is limited to regression equations only. 2. The objectives of the study The main objective of this methodological contribution is to present new free software stature for estimation of the human body height from lengths of appendicular long bones. The program was developed by Lenka Polcerová (2016) with the intention to make the work of anthropologists and archaeologists easier and faster while estimating human stature. 3. Included anthropological methods A total of 13 published methods for estimation of human stature in 23 variants were included in the current version of the software (Tab. 1). The software automatically (according to selection of several conditions) computes stature of the analysed individual from the inserted measurements: Maximum humeral length (H1), Humeral biomechanical length (H2), Maximum radial length (R1), Radial parallel length (R1b), Radial biomechanical length (R2), Maximum ulnar length (U1), Ulnar biomechanical length (U2), Maximum femoral length (F1), Femoral physiological length (F1b), Femoral biomechanical length (F2), Tibial length (T1), Tibial medial length (T1b), Maximum fibular length (Fi1), Cranial height (M17), The height of the body of the second cervical vertebra (C2), The height of the body of the cervical vertebrae (C3–C7), The height of the body of the thoracic vertebrae (Th1–Th12), The height of the body of the lumbar vertebrae (L1–L5), The height of the body of the first sacral vertebra (S1) and The talus-calcaneus height (TC). All included methods are divided into one of four categories: anatomical methods, organic correlations methods, regression methods or ratio methods. Complete list of resources for mentioned methods is at the end of this article.

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Estimation of human stature using program stature ANATOMICAL METHODS Raxter et al. (2006) Auerbach - females (2011) Auerbach - males (2011) Fully (1956) ORGANIC CORRELATION METHODS Zeman, Králík (2012) Sjøvold (1990) Sjøvold - Caucasians (1990) REGRESSION METHODS Trotter, Gleser - African-American females (1952) Trotter, Gleser - Caucasian females (1952) Trotter, Gleser - African-American males (1952) Trotter, Gleser - Caucasian males (1952) Dobisíková et al. - both sexes (2000) Dobisíková et al. - females (2000) Dobisíková et al. - males (2000) Bach - females (1965) Breitinger - males (1937) Pearson - females (1898) Pearson - males (1898) Černý, Komenda - females (1979, 1982) Černý, Komenda - males (1979, 1982) Telkkä - females (1950) Telkkä - males (1950) RATIO METHOD Humphry (1858) Table 1. List of methods included in the program stature.

4. Programming notes ASUS N56V notebook with Windows 8.0 (64bit) operating memory of 16 GB, screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and programming environment Delphi for Windows 7 from Borland (ANON. 2002) was used to create program stature. Program stature represents an EXE file (Stature.exe) and some accompanying data files that are necessary for the proper functioning of the program. Those are BMP files (ins.bmp, lit.bmp, measurements.bmp, stature.bmp) contained in the bin folder (POLCEROVÁ 2016).

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Lenka Polcerová - Miroslav Králík

The program was developed in Windows 8.0 (64bit) which is therefore recommended for use. However, the program was tested in following systems: Windows XP Professional (32bit), Windows XP Professional (64bit), Windows 7 Professional (32bit), Windows 7 Professional (64bit), Windows 8 (64bit), Windows 8.1 (64bit), Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Windows 10 (64bit) and works correctly on all of them. In order to allow the program to run correctly in English environment, Central European Coding for Windows (Charset:=238) was selected. Unfortunately, the symbol ø could not be displayed on the card Program, on the other hand, all symbols from the Czech alphabet are shown correctly and the user is able to run the program on platforms with English environment (POLCEROVÁ 2016). Results are displayed using font Lucida Console and in the case that this particular font is not installed, it is recommended to install it for better functioning of program stature (POLCEROVÁ 2016). 5. Using program Stature After starting program stature, a card Program is displayed on the monitor (Fig. 1). Other cards include: Summary, Graphs, Instructions, Measurements and Resources. On card Program there are three menu options: Sex, Approximate age and Population. Unknown position is the default setting for all of them and can be changed before or after the user enters data. The data are entered to the white boxes bellow the settings of parameters. The user can input 39 measurements (mentioned before) of which 14 distinguish between left and right side. A definition of each measurement is on the card Measurements. For the correct operation of the program it is not necessary to fill in all the white boxes (POLCEROVÁ 2016). Menu option Sex allows the user to choose between: Unknown, Female, Male, menu option Population between: Unknown, African-American, Czech, French, German, Finn, Caucasian and parameter Approximate age between Unknown, 60. In the case that all parameters are set to Unknown and all variables (measurements) are present, all 13 methods (Tab. 1) in 23 variants are displayed (POLCEROVÁ 2016). Menu option Sex All methods included in program stature are displayed if option Unknown is checked. Methods independent of sex and methods designed for females are displayed (other methods are not) if option Female is checked. Methods inde-

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Estimation of human stature using program stature

pendent of sex and methods designed for males are displayed (other methods are not) if option Male is checked. Menu option Population It is recommended to choose the variant Unknown if the user is not sure. In the case that one of the possible options is selected, methods are sorted based on populations for which the method was created. Menu option Approximate age Menu option Approximate age was included in the program stature since methods Raxter et al. (2006), Trotter and Gleser (1952) - African-American females, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - African-American males, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - Caucasian females, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - Caucasian males involve regulating expression in their equations for the age of the individual. However, an estimation of human age, especially in adults, is difficult (İŞCAN, STEYN 2013) and therefore program stature allows the user to choose between option Unknown and three intervals: 60. The program in these cases works with the “average value” for the age of the individual. For method Raxter et al. (2006) is the regulating expression for the age of the individual as follows: (1) 0.0426 × age + 12.1, and for methods: Trotter and Gleser (1952) - African-American females, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - African-American males, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - Caucasian females, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - Caucasian males is the regulating expression for the age of the individual as follows: (2) 0.06 × (age – 30). In both regulating expressions for the age of the individual is the age given in years. For methods: Trotter and Gleser (1952) - African-American females, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - African-American males, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - Caucasian females, Trotter and Gleser (1952) - Caucasian males in case that individual is younger than 30 years is the regulating expression for the age of the individual not included to the equation estimating stature of the individual. Based on results presented in Table 2, average values ‘24’ for interval 60 were chosen (POLCEROVÁ 2016).

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Lenka Polcerová - Miroslav Králík

Regulating expressions for the age of the individual

Age

Result of regulating expression for the age of the individual in cm (subsequently included to equation for estimation of stature of the individual)

1

18

12.8668

1

24

13.1224

1

30

13.3780

1

45

14.0170

1

60

14.6560

1

75

15.2950

1

90

15.9340

2

45

0.9000

2

60

1.8000

2

75

2.7000

2

90

3.6000

Table 2. Results of regulating expressions for an age of an individual in cm (subsequently included to equation for estimation of stature of the individual).

Figure 1. Opened window of program stature with the card Program displayed.

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Estimation of human stature using program stature

The program has the ability to save data (card Program) in three ways: Save data, Save graphs, Save data + graphs. The data are automatically saved after click on one of the mentioned buttons to RTF file to the folder where program stature is located. RTF file has a Central European encoding for Windows. When opening this file it is recommended that the user specifies different encoding by choosing Central European Coding (Windows), otherwise it may not display all the characters (notably the Czech alphabet characters in the basic package) properly. For further technical parameters the program include the card Instructions. RTF file contains input data supplemented with _L (for data from left side) and _R (for data from right side). Graphs are saved in BMP files. All saved files have names generated by date: yyyymmdd-hhmmss (year month day – hour minute second) (POLCEROVÁ 2016). 6. Functionality testing Program stature was tested on two reference sets of data with information on body stature. The first one was represented by skeletons found at the medieval burial site Brno Vídeňská street (SEDLÁČKOVÁ 2013). This reference set included 17 individuals whom it was possible to measure in situ by methods of Boldsen (1984) and Petersen (2005). Measurements in situ were provided by Mgr. Anna Bajerová and measurements of bones were provided by Mgr. Pavlína Ingrová. The second reference data set was represented by published sample from the University of Adelaide by I. Sierp and M. Henneberg (2016). This reference set included 20 individuals whose stature was estimated by means of the anatomical method published by M. H. Raxter et al. (2006) and also published in study by Sierp and Henneberg (2016). Measurements from this study were considered to be values from the right side although it was not explicitly indicated in the study. Seven from the overall sample of 20 individuals were recently deceased Australians probably of European origin and 13 individuals were bought by University of Adelaide in the early 20th century from India (SIERP, HENNEBERG 2016). stature estimations were calculated two times, the first time manually (outside program stature) and the second time by program stature. When calculating manually all possible results from all given measurements (as in program Stature when all menu options were set Unknown), time for obtaining results fell within an interval of 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 50 minutes. These values represented only the time needed to obtain the results, they did not include the search for equations, measuring bones, creating graphs or feed-

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back control of all data. Program stature calculated equivalent results within 4 to 7 minutes which were the approximate time needed to input all data to the card Program. Similarly, these did not include time spend by measuring bones. The user can easily control the input data. While calculating results the program automatically shows graphs of these results separated by body side, the card Graphs shows results only with measurement H1 and F1 and Summary shows a summary of these results. This implies that the estimation by program stature took far less time to process given measurements. It was also easier to work further with the obtained results. No errors in stature program were found based on an independent testing. However, an engineered adjustment was suggested in the case of equation for estimation stature based on the tibia in method of Trotter and Gleser (1952). This adjustment was proposed since present version of the program does not yet involve a correction of the equation published in 1958 (TROTTER, GLESER 1958). Program stature was also used to determine (POLCEROVÁ 2016) which of the included methods was most suitable for each reference set of data compared to their reference height as measured in situ (for the data set from Brno Vídeňská street) or by means of the anatomical method (published by M. H. Raxter et al. (2006) for the data set from University of Adelaide). Main focus was on calculations involving measurements H1 and F1. In the reference sample from Brno Vídeňská street (Central European medieval population) it appeared that the best methods for estimation of human stature for measurement H1 (based on the lowest values of the average relative error – less than 3 %) were: Pearson - females (1898), Telkkä - females (1950) and Trotter, Gleser - African-American females (1952) for individuals older than 60 years. In the reference sample from the University of Adelaide the best methods for estimation of human stature for measurement H1 (based on the lowest values of the average relative error – less than 3 %) were these methods: Telkkä - females (1950), Pearson - females (1898) and Trotter, Gleser - African-American females (1952) for individuals older than 60 years. Based on the median of the relative error of less than 3 % were also suitable these methods: Trotter, Gleser - African-American females (1952) for individuals aged 30 to 60 years and Trotter, Gleser - Caucasian females (1952) for individuals older than 60 years. In the reference sample from Brno Vídeňská street it appeared that the best methods for estimation of human stature for measurement F1 (based on the lowest values of the average relative error – less than 2 %) were methods: Trotter, Gleser - African-American females (1952) for individuals younger than

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Estimation of human stature using program stature

30 years and for individuals aged 30 to 60 years, Trotter, Gleser - Caucasian females (1952) for individuals older than 60 years, Trotter, Gleser - AfricanAmerican males (1952) for individuals older than 60 years and Telkkä - females (1950). Based on the median of the relative error of less than 2 % were also suitable methods: Trotter, Gleser - African-American males (1952) for individuals younger than 30 years and for individuals aged 30 to 60 years, Trotter, Gleser - Caucasian females (1952) for individuals aged 30 to 60 years and Pearson - females (1898). In the reference sample from the University of Adelaide it appeared that the best methods for estimation of human stature for measurement F1 (based on the lowest values of the average relative error - less than 2 %) were methods: Trotter, Gleser - Caucasian females (1952) for individuals aged 30 to 60 years and for individuals older than 60 years, Trotter, Gleser - African-American females (1952) for individuals younger than 30 years and for individuals aged between 30 to 60 years, Trotter, Gleser - African-American males (1952) for individuals older than 60 years and Pearson - females (1898). Based on the median of the relative error of less than 2 % was also suitable method Telkkä - females (1950). All results were taken from the diploma thesis of L. Polcerová (2016). The average relative error for measurement H1 in the reference sample from Brno Vídeňská street was 5.17  % and within the reference sample from the University of Adelaide it was 5.04  %. For measurement F1 was the average relative error of the reference sample Brno Vídeňská street 3.31 % and in the reference sample of the University of Adelaide it was 3.18 %. These results confirmed the premise that for estimating stature it is preferable to use the femur rather than the humerus (BYERS 2015, p. 218; DE MENDOÇA 2000, p. 47; İŞCAN, STEYN 2013, p. 253). In total 37 individuals were processed by program stature. Individuals had different preservation status, especially the reference sample from a medieval burial ground of Brno Vídeňská street showed low preservation. Using program stature, however, it was possible to estimate stature using several methods and then compare the results (POLCEROVÁ 2016). 7. Availability of program Stature Program stature is free for use and can be downloaded on the ResearchGate site: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312553056_Program_Stature. Download folder STATURE.rar, after extraction, program stature will be in a folder STATURE with all its necessary files (especially make sure that folder bin is present).

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Basic technical instructions together with suggestions about what to do when the program does not work properly are at the card Instructions. 8. Conclusion Program stature is an intuitive and user-friendly tool for estimation of the human body stature according to the skeleton. Its advantage is fast processing of input data and the ability to further work with obtained results. The authors would be grateful for functionality testing of program stature and reporting possible errors in calculations. It is expected to develop and improve program stature further based on mentioned notes from users. Acknowledgements Authors would like to thank Mgr. Pavlína Ingrová and Mgr. Anna Bajerová for provided measurements and RNDr. Ivana Jarošová, Ph.D. for independent testing of program stature. References ANON., 2002: Borland Delphi Professional. 100 Enterprise Way, Scotts Valley, CA 95066-3249: Borland Software Corporation. Borland Delphi Professional. BAINES, K. N. - EDMOND, S. - EISMA, E. 2011: Stature. In:  Black, S. - Ferguson, E. (eds.): Forensic Anthropology: 2000 to 2010, Boca Ranton, 95-117. BOGIN, B. - VARELA-SILVA, M. 2010: Leg Length, Body Proportion, and Health: A Review with a Note on Beauty. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7(3), 1047– 1075. BOLDSEN, J. 1984: A statistical evaluation of the basis for predicting stature from lengths of long bones in European populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 65(3), 305–311. BYERS, S. N. 2015: Introduction to Forensic Anthropology, New York. DE MENDONÇA, M. C. 2000: Estimation of height from the length of long bones in a Portuguese adult population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 112: 39–48. DELEMARRE-VAN DE WAAL, H. A. 1993: Environmental factors influencing growth and pubertal development, Environmental Health Perspectives. 101, Suppl 2, 39–44.

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CHRISTENSEN, A. M. - PASSALACQUA, N. V. - BARTELINK, E. J. 2014: Forensic Anthropology: Current Methods and Practice. Elsevier. İŞCAN, M. Y - STEYN, M. 2013: The Human Skeleton in Forensic Medicine. Springfield. JANTZ, R. L. - OUSLEY, S. D. 2005: FORDISC 3: Computerized Forensic Discriminant Functions. KONIGSBERG, L. W. - ROSS, A. H. - JUNGERS, W. L. 2006: Estimation and Evidence in Forensic Anthropology: Determining Stature. In: Schmitt, A. - Cunha, E. - Pinheiro, J. (eds.): 2006 Forensic Anthropology and Medicine: Complementary Sciences From Recovery to Cause of Death. Totowa, New Jersey. 317–331. MOORE, M. K. - ROSS, A. H. 2013: Stature Estimation. In: Moore, M. K. - Ross, A. H. (eds.): Research Methods in Human Skeletal Biology. San Diego, 151-179. OUSLEY, S. D. 2012: Estimating Stature. In: Dirkmaat, D. C. (ed.): 2012 A Companion to Forensic Anthropology. Oxford, 330–334. PETERSEN, H. C. 2005. On the accuracy of estimating living stature from skeletal length in the grave and by linear regression. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 15(2), 106–114. POLCEROVÁ, L. 2016: Odhad výšky postavy na základě skeletu: Srovnání různých metod. Brno. Diploma thesis. Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Department of Anthropology. RAXTER, M. H. - AUERBACH B. M. - RUFF, Ch. B. 2006: Revision of the Fully technique for estimating statures. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 130(3), 374–384. SEDLÁČKOVÁ, L. 2013: Předběžné hlášení o provedení záchranného archeologického výzkumu „Bytový dům Vídeňská, II. Etapa, Brno”. Předběžná nálezová zpráva uložená v  archivu společnosti Archaia Brno o.p.s. SIERP, I. - HENNEBERG, M. 2016: Reconstruction of body height from the skeleton: Testing a dozen different methods for consistency of their results. Anthropologischer Anzeiger, 7–21. SILVENTOINEN, K. - SAMMALISTO, S. - PEROLA, M. - BOOMSMA, D. I. - CORNES, B. K. - DAVIS, Ch. - DUNKEL, L. - DE LANGE, M. HARRIS, J. R. - HJELMBORG, J. V. B. -LUCIANO, M. - MARTIN, N. G. - MORTENSEN, J. - NISTICÒ, L. - PEDERSEN, N. L. - SKYTTHE, A. - SPECTOR, T. D. - STAZI, M. A. - WILLEMSEN, G. - KAPRIO, J. 2003: Heritability of Adult Body Height: A Comparative Study of

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Twin Cohorts in Eight Countries. Twin Research, 6(5), 399–408. TROTTER, M. - GLESER, G. C. 1952: Estimation of stature from long bones of American Whites and Negroes. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 10(4), 463–514. TROTTER, M. - GLESER, G. C. 1958: A re-evaluation of estimation of stature based on measurements of stature taken during life and of long bones after death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 16(1), 79–123. Resources for methods included in program Stature AUERBACH, B. M. 2011: Methods for Estimating Missing Human Skeletal Element Osteometric Dimensions Employed in the Revised Fully Technique for Estimating Stature. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 145, 67–80. BACH, H. 1965: Zur Berechnung der Körperhöhe aus den langen Gliedmaßenknochen weiblicher Skelette. Anthropologischer Anzeiger, 29, 12–21. BATEN, J. – BLUM, M. 2012: Growing Tall but Unequal: New Findings and New Background Evidence on Anthropometric Welfare in 156 Countries, 1810–1989, Economic History of Developing Regions, 27:sup1, S66-S85. BREITINGER, E. 1937: Zur Berechnung der Körperhöhe aus den langen Gliedmaßenknochen. Anthropologischer Anzeiger, 14, 249–274. ČERNÝ, M. – KOMENDA, S. 1982: Reconstruction of body height based on humerus and femur lengths (material from Czech lands). IInd Anthropological Congress of Aleš Hrdlička. Praha, 475–479. DOBISÍKOVÁ, M. – VELEMÍNSKÝ, P. – ZOCOVÁ, J. – BERAN, M. 2000: Výpočet délky těla z délky dlouhých kostí. Smolenice 1999: Zborník referátov a posterov z Antropologických dní s medzinárodnou účasťou, 25. – 26. 10. 1999. Bratislava, 33–37. FULLY, G. 1956: Une nouvelle méthode de détermination de la taille. Annales de medecine legale, criminologie, police scientifique et toxicologie, 36, 266–273. FULLY, G. - PINEAU, H. 1960: Détermination de la stature au moyen du squelette. Annales de medecine legale, criminologie, police scientifique et toxicologie, 40, 146–153. HUMPHRY, G. M. 1858: A Treatise on the Human Skeleton (Including the Joints). London.

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PEARSON, K. 1898: IV. Mathematical contribution to the theory of evolution. - V. On the reconstruction of the stature of prehistoric races. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 192, 169-244. RAXTER, M. H. - AUERBACH, B. M. - RUFF, C. B. 2006: Revision of the Fully technique for estimating statures. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 130, 374–384. RAXTER, M. H. - RUFF, C. B. - AUERBACH, B. M. 2007: Technical note: revised Fully stature estimation technique. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 133, 817–818. SJØVOLD, T. 1990: Estimation of stature from long bones utilizing the line of organic correlation. Human Evolution 5, 431–447. TELKKÄ, A. 1950: On the prediction of human stature from the long bones. Acta Anatomica, 9, 103–117. TROTTER, M. – GLESER, G. C. (1952): Estimation of stature from long bones of American Whites and Negros. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 10, 463–514. WHITE T. D. - BLACK M. T. - FOLKENS, P. A. 2012: Human Osteology, Third Edition. Elsevier Inc. ZEMAN, T. - KRÁLÍK M. 2012: Assumptions for using line of organic correlation for stature estimation. Slovenská Antropológia, 15(2), 63–70. Odhad výšky postavy člověka pomocí programu Stature Odhad výšky postavy představuje důležitou složku antropologického hodnocení skeletálních nálezů. Výška postavy jedince je důležitým prvkem biologického profilu, který patří mezi základní úkoly antropologa v paleoantropologii, archeologické antropologii nebo forenzní antropologii. V současnosti neexistují volně dostupné softwarové nástroje, které by tento úkol usnadnily. Hlavním cílem tohoto článku je představit nový volně dostupný program stature, který umožňuje rychlý a  jednoduchý odhad výšky postavy člověka. Předložená verze programu využívá 23 variant ze 13 tradičních antropologických metod. Všechny zařazené metody lze rozdělit do čtyř kategorií: metody anatomické, organické korelace, regresní metody a metody podílové. Tento článek zahrnuje popis funkcí, specifika a  vysvětluje základní uživatelské prvky programu stature. Zároveň článek předkládá výsledky testování programu stature na  dvou souborech dat: Brno Vídeňská ulice

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a data z Univerzity Adelaide. Získání výsledků bylo prokazatelně rychlejší s využitím programu stature oproti standardnímu ručnímu výpočtu. Program stature je volně dostupný a je možné jej najít na stránkách ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312553056_Program_Stature. Lenka Polcerová Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Department of Anthropology, Laboratory of Morphology and Forensic Anthropology (LaMorFA) Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno [email protected] Miroslav Králík Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Department of Anthropology, Laboratory of Morphology and Forensic Anthropology (LaMorFA) Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno [email protected]

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