Cranial Variation in Man: A Study by Multivariate Analysis of Patterns of Difference Among Recent Human Populations
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William W. Howells's Cranial Variation in Man (1973) utilized multivariate analysis to study skull measurements from 17 global populations. This research aimed to understand patterns of difference among recent human populations and establish population relationships through physical measurements. The study revealed that present-day humans belong to a single species. Howells pioneered the use of quantitative methods in anthropology, particularly in analyzing cranial measurements for population studies. This work contributes to the field of population genetics, which uses statistical methods to analyze gene distributions and chromosomal variations to understand past migrations, evolutionary relationships, and adaptations.12
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