Volume : 3, Issue : 1, January - 2014

Correlation Between Cranial Index and Foramen Magnum Index in Human Dried Skulls

Dr Deepak S. Howale, Dr Anil Bathija, Dr Sudarshan Gupta, Dr D P Pandit

Abstract :

The various groups of mankind display in their physical features which are more or less characteristic of the stock to which they belong. Craniology deals with these differences so far as they affect the skull. The method whereby these differences are recorded involves the accurate measurement of the skull in most of its details. Such procedure is included under the term craniometry. The races of man display great variations in regard to the size of the skull. Apart from individual differences and the proportion of head-size to body-height, it may be generally assumed that the size of the skull in the highly civilised races is much in excess of that displayed in lower types. The size of the head is intimately correlated with the develop-ment of the ain1. The relation of the eadth to the length of the skull is expressed by means of the cranial index 1physical anthropologists attempted to classify human being according to phenotypic variations in to races. Most classifications are based on phenotypic variations which give clear distinction among different races on the basis of morphological features and measurement. Cranial index is an important tool, which may be used to identify the races among the geographical regions. 75 dried skulls collected from different part of Maharastra were measured to determine the cranial index. Skull were classified based on Montagu (1960)2 average maximum cranial length and eadth were 17.11 cm and 12.98 cm. Maximum and minimum reading of cranial length (18.50 and 16.60 cm) and cranial eadth (14.50 and 12.10 cm) respectively. Average cranial index was 75.49 ± 3.95 with maximum and minimum value 87.34 and 68.42 respectively. According to skull classification our study shown maximum skulls were under the category of Mesocranial group (46.66%) and Dolichocranial (42.66%) based on Montagu and Dolichocranial 56% based on Comas.3 Based on the finding of mean cranial index value below 80, It may be concluded that Maharashtra population belongs to Indo-Dravidian race. The average value of foramen magnum index obtained in present study was 84.85 with S.D. 4.77