Morphometric Analysis of Biasterion Length and Cranial Vault Weight of Nigerian Skulls

Anthropometry involves the systematic measurement of the physical properties of the human body, primarily dimensional descriptors of body size and shape. It plays an important role in industrial design, clothing, ergonomics and architecture. Skull is important in this regard as it resists adverse environmental conditions over time. The present study aims to determine the anthropometric dimensions of biasterion length and cranial vault weight of Nigerian skulls. One hundred adult dry skulls, (82 males, and 18 females) free from damage and deformities collected from eleven Departments of Anatomy in Nigerian Universities were used. Tape and weighing scale were used to measure biasterion length and weight of cranial vault. Data was analyzed with Graph Pad Prism 5.03. The mean±SEM, maximum, minimum and sexual dimorphism ratio were computed. The mean of biasterion length (mm) of male and female were 127.0±0.90 and 123.0±1.56 mm respectively while the weight of cranial vault for male and female were 330±6.08 and 308±7.84 respectively. The result of this study will be of importance in providing new perspectives on human osteology and in sex determination in forensic anthropology.