Many scholars have conducted research on the growth patterns of children’s skulls in terms of skull size, head circumference, cranial cavity volume, and so forth. This study compared and analyzed 20 skull measurement indexes of different ages from skulls of 38 children (aged 2–15 years) and 87 adult females (20–40 years) at the Zaghunluq cemetery in Xinjiang, China, to determine how the size of ancient children’s skulls changed with age. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences between the six age groups (2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–11, 12–15 years, and adults [20–40 years]) in terms of metrical cranial traits, cranial area, and cranial cavity volume. Results indicate that the skull kept growing from ages 3–5, 12–15, and adults, implying that the skull sizes of ancient children in Xinjiang continued to increase with age. In addition, the study revealed that children aged 12–15 had skulls that were significantly smaller than those of adults. This finding showed that the skulls of ancient children in Xinjiang were not fully developed at the age of 15. Notably, differences existed between age groups in both developmental traits of the cranium and the rates at which the skull changed.
{"title":"Dimensional Changes in the Skulls of Ancient Children with\u0000Age in Xinjiang, China","authors":"Haijun Li, Jing Zhou, Yujie Zhao, Feng Chen, Hailong Zhang, Chang Fu, Bo Wang, Xiaoyong Xiao","doi":"10.1353/hub.2017.a925562","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/hub.2017.a925562","url":null,"abstract":"Many scholars have conducted research on the growth patterns of children’s skulls in terms of skull\u0000size, head circumference, cranial cavity volume, and so forth. This study compared and analyzed 20\u0000skull measurement indexes of different ages from skulls of 38 children (aged 2–15 years) and 87 adult\u0000females (20–40 years) at the Zaghunluq cemetery in Xinjiang, China, to determine how the size of ancient\u0000children’s skulls changed with age. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences between\u0000the six age groups (2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–11, 12–15 years, and adults [20–40 years]) in terms of metrical cranial\u0000traits, cranial area, and cranial cavity volume. Results indicate that the skull kept growing from ages 3–5,\u000012–15, and adults, implying that the skull sizes of ancient children in Xinjiang continued to increase with\u0000age. In addition, the study revealed that children aged 12–15 had skulls that were significantly smaller\u0000than those of adults. This finding showed that the skulls of ancient children in Xinjiang were not fully\u0000developed at the age of 15. Notably, differences existed between age groups in both developmental traits\u0000of the cranium and the rates at which the skull changed.","PeriodicalId":13053,"journal":{"name":"Human Biology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140766182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}