A proposed method for the identification of race in sub-adult skeletons: a geometric morphometric analysis of mandibular morphology.

The identification of biological race (ancestry) in skeletal material is an important aspect of forensic investigations. While techniques for race determination are well established for adult skeletons, identification of race in sub-adult specimens has not been widely addressed. The present study investigates racial differences in the mandibular morphology of sub-adult specimens using geometric morphometric analyses. One hundred and seventy-four mandibles from five morphologically distinct samples were digitized and subjected to general Procrustes analysis. Results showed significant morphological differences between the samples and obtained cross-validation results of over 70% accuracy in identification of unknown individuals using the complete mandible. It is suggested that these techniques could provide a method for the identification of race in sub-adult individuals.