Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Paleoecology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2022 Jul;305(7):1692-1700. doi: 10.1002/ar.24833. Epub 2021 Dec 2.
Estimation of stature from footprint lengths is a common prediction in forensic cases and in paleoanthropology upon the discovery of fossil footprints. Many studies, which have estimated stature from footprints, generally use a "one-size-fits-all" approach that usually involves applying a known ratio of foot length to total stature to do so, although this method has fallen out of practice in forensic cases in recent years but is still commonly used for fossil trace evidence. Yet, we know that substrate and speed can change the dimensions of a footprint, so why are these "one-size-fits-all" approaches still used today? We tested footprint production across different substrates at a walk, a fast walk, and a jog. We calculated how accurately footprint dimensions were impressed between these different conditions and identified sources of error in footprint lengths, and the percentage changes of how significantly a footprint can change in length between different conditions. We provide a table with different ratios that we encourage practitioners/field scientists to refer to and use when estimating stature from footprints, with respect to the substrate on which the footprint was created and the speed at which it was created. We actively encourage researchers to add the ratios by testing more substrates so that in the future stature can be more accurately estimated, thus aiding the paleoanthropological community, but also forensic investigations by statistically highlighting how different conditions can affect trace dimensions.
从足迹长度估算身高是法医学和古人类学中常见的预测方法，当发现化石足迹时也是如此。许多研究通过应用已知的足长与总体身高的比例来估算身高，尽管这种方法近年来在法医学案例中已不再使用，但仍常用于化石痕迹证据。然而，我们知道，基底和速度会改变足迹的尺寸，那么为什么今天仍然使用这些“一刀切”的方法呢？我们在步行、快走和慢跑三种不同速度下在不同基底上测试了足迹的产生情况。我们计算了在不同条件下足迹尺寸的精确程度，并确定了足迹长度的误差源，以及在不同条件下足迹长度发生显著变化的百分比。我们提供了一个表格，其中包含不同的比例，我们鼓励从业者/野外科学家在根据足迹估算身高时参考和使用这些比例，具体取决于足迹产生的基底和产生的速度。我们积极鼓励研究人员通过测试更多的基底来添加这些比例，以便将来能够更准确地估算身高，从而帮助古人类学社区，也有助于法医调查，因为它通过统计突出显示不同条件如何影响痕迹尺寸。
