Investigating neutral and climate-linked morphological variation in human femora: A geometric morphometrics approach
Abstract
This thesis aimed to differentiate climatic and ‘neutral’ morphological signatures in the human femur, allowing anthropologists to improve their interpretations of behaviour in the past. A dataset of geometric morphometric data and traditional linear measurements for eleven globally distributed hunter-gatherer groups, measures of distance from an estimated African Origin, and a set of climatic variables were used to separate the relative effect of neutral demographic processes and climatic selection on femoral morphology. Within-population shape variance was not significantly predicted by any of the variables tested. Adherence to Bergmann’s rule was identified in the linear measurements on the individual and population level, while within-population variance in femoral length was found to be significantly associated with maximum temperature. These results suggest that climatic selection may have overwritten any neutral signatures. Future research should expand the sample to clarify if the interesting but non-significant patterns identified represent real relationships.