Using the morphometric approach to analyze artificially modified crania from the late fifth millennium BCE settlement of Chega Sofla, southwestern Iran

Abstract

There have been archaeological and ethnographic reports of artificially modified crania from all continents. Archaeological excavations at the late fifth millennium BCE cemetery of Tol-e Chega Sofla, located southwest of the Iranian plateau, also revealed these crania. This paper uses the morphometric approach to study Tol-e Chega Sofla's modified crania. The outlines of normal and modified crania of Chega Sofla and Khuzestan residents' specimens were considered. How accurate is the morphometric approach in identifying and recognizing Chega Sofla's modified skulls from normal ones? Can it recognize small variations in the skull's morphology, such as the flattening of the squamous part of the occipital bone? The results of this method can be compared with descriptive studies. Finally, it is shown that the morphometric approach based on Elliptic Fourier Analysis can identify the deformed skull of Chega Sofla and its intensity, as well as the flattening of the squamous part of the occipital bone.