Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 100. (Budapest 2008)

Bernert, Zs.: Data for the calculation of body height on the basis of extremities of individuals living in different historical periods in the Carpathian Basin

• tibia(male) "humerus (male) A radius (male) * tibia (female) • humerus (female) A radius (female) 350 362 374 386 398 410 422 434 446 458 470 482 494 506 518 530 Fig 3. Calculated correlation of the length (MARTIN 1 size) of long bones 1) As a result of the differences in the limb ratios of males and females, methods using any bones not considering sex differences when estimating body height of males and females are wrong in principle. Namely, our data collected on the basis of historical anthropological series proved that the long bones of the upper extremities of females were significantly shorter than those of males when comparing male and female individuals with the same length of the femur (or tibia). 2) Methods estimating greater body height for males than for females (by several centimetres) in case of limb bones of the same length are also erroneous. Because the ratio of extremities and the torso is different: the limbs of females are shorter when compared to their torso than those of males (Table 4). This type of stature characteristics is universal, irrespective of population origin. This is mainly because growth takes longer in boys and the extremities grow faster than the limb itself during that development period. This is also true for historical ages. Therefore, only those estimation methods are correct that calculate with a greater height for females in consideration of the same length of limb bones. However, I have not found such a method in literature. Table 4. Average data of 1Í i-year old people in Hungary Males Females Stature (S) 175.34 162.28 Upper-extremity (UE) 76.45 69.23 UE/S x 100 43.60 42.66 Lower-extremity (LE) 98.68 89.89 LE / S x 100 56.28 55.39