Book reviews -- Craniofacial Variation in Pacific Populations edited by Tasman Brown and Stephen Molnar

Human Biology, Apr 1994 by Kohn, Luci Ann P

Craniofacial Variation in Pacific Populations, edited by Tasman Brown and Stephen Molnar. Adelaide, Australia: Gillingham Printers, 1992. 151 pp. $23.95 (paper).

This volume includes 13 papers and 11 poster abstracts that were presented during a symposium at the Seventeenth Pacific Science Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, on May 30, 1991. Participants in the symposium and poster sessions include researchers from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Czechoslovakia, and Israel. The Pacific populations discussed include Australians, Cook Islanders, Ainu, Chinese, Lakalai (New Britain, Melanesia), Atayal aborigines (Taiwan), New Guineans, and Maori. Molnar presents the background and purpose of the volume in the preface. Most papers in this volume follow scientific format, with an abstract, introduction, materials and methods, and discussion.

The papers and abstracts can be divided into those that analyze questions relating to Pacific Island peoples and those that address basic biological questions using samples from the Pacific Islands.

The papers addressing questions unique to Pacific Island peoples include analyses of both prehistoric and historic samples. P. Brown tests the association between cultural development and post-Pleistocene reduction in tooth size in southeast Australia. Precontact samples from the Murray River region are used by S. Molnar and I. Molnar to examine whether dental arch shape and occlusion are major factors contributing to rapid, uneven wear among occlusal surfaces. G.L. Pretty, T. Brown, and M.E. Kricun present the case of a prehistoric adult male from South Australia with pronounced lower facial asymmetry resulting from overeruption of the posterior maxillary teeth, which also affected maxillary and mandibular morphology of both the right and left sides. Y. Mizoguchi uses both cranial and postcranial traits to examine the trend of brachycephalization in Japan between 1000 yr B.P. and 500 yr B.P. An analysis of morphology of the craniofacial complex of the Lakalai (New Britain, Melanesia) is presented by D. Swindler, who compares the degree of sexual dimorphism in the Lakalai with that observed in other areas of Melanesia. H. Yamada, K. Kawamoto, K. Katayama, J. Boroky, and S.O. Me'A use moire topography to analyze palate and dental morphology of modern Cook Islanders. Their results are compared with data from Japanese and Fukien Chinese (Taiwan). E. Kanazawa, M. Natori, and T. Ozaki investigate the frequency of occurrence of tubercles on the upper first molar to show population differences and to reveal affinities between populations. Their samples include six Mongoloid samples, two Caucasian samples, one Negroid sample, and one Australoid sample. L.C. Richards's study seeks to provide information on the rate of interproximal tooth wear for permanent maxillary and mandibular teeth in adult Australian aboriginal crania.

Most of the abstracts published in this volume also address questions unique to Pacific Island populations. C.L. Brace, D.P. Tracer, and T.S. Ellzey use craniofacial measurements of Pacific samples to estimate biological affinities among the populations. Nonmetric traits from prehistoric and postcontact samples are used by K. Katayama to evaluate biological similarity of Cook Islanders to other Polynesian populations. C.G. Turner describes dental morphology and wear among prehistoric Akari (Papua New Guinea). M. Prokopec and G.L. Pretty describe craniofacial variation of calvaria and mandibles from a single site and compare them to remains from other South Australian sites. P. Smith and L. Rosen compare prehistoric samples from Australia and New Zealand to determine their patterns of dental size, wear, and tooth loss. P. Houghton and M. Kean wrote two abstracts, one in which they study environmental influences on the Polynesian body and specific craniofacial features and another in which they examine craniofacial morphology shared by Polynesian peoples.

Several papers included in this volume address biological questions using samples from Pacific populations. J.A. Kaidonis, G.C. Townsend, and L.C. Richards present an analysis of the morphological features and etiology of interproximal tooth wear. N.G. Clark uses teeth from a number of populations from Asia, Europe, North and South America, Africa, and the Pacific to examine factors that influence the pathways followed by dental inflammatory exudates. J. Diamanti, G.C. Townsend, T. Brown, and P. Leppard examine the incidence of agenesis of the permanent first molar in South Australian children. G.C. Townsend, L.C. Richards, and T. Brown studied mirror imaging in twin dentition to examine whether there is a biological basis for the phenomenon. T. Brown, G.C. Townsend, L.C. Richards, G.R. Travan, and S.K. Pinkerton extend the study of G.C. Townsend and coworkers (in this volume) to analyze facial symmetry and mirror imaging in monozygotic and dizygotic twins using stereophotographs .

Four abstracts address basic biological questions. A. Neville, J. Taylor, K. Brown, and S. Hammond document the effect of bite marks on human skin, and the use of ultraviolet photography to examine unique tooth patterns in human bites is addressed by A. Neville, J. Taylor, P. Nambiar, K. Brown, T. Bridges, and L. Emerson. J. Taylor, A. Neville, K. Brown, T. Bridges, M. Hashimoto, and K. Suzuki discuss craniofacial superimposition for forensic identification of unknown persons, and K. Brown, T. Elliot, and M. Hashimoto introduce a computer program, OdontID, which facilitates the comparison of dental data.