Craniometry

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The craniometry ( Latin cranium , cranial ' and Greek μέτρον métron , German , dimension' , German skull measurement ) is a branch of morphometry and quantitative anatomy . Together with the cranioscopy , the description of features or the craniology , it forms a sub-area of phrenology ("skull theory").

On the basis of morphometric skull features, both in humans and in animals z. B. Make type and gender assignments. These questions are important in anthropology , ethnology and forensics , among others . The measurement of skulls plays a role today, especially in archeology and palaeoanthropology , in order to assign skull finds.

Craniometry is a direct measurement method in which the dimensions of the living or dead body part are recorded mechanically. It should not be confused with its counterpart in radiology , cephalometry , in which the measurements are taken indirectly from the X-ray image , which is a projection of the bony structures. For this purpose, the data from the sonography must also be calculated.

history

historical craniometer
Typical craniometric representation of the 19th century, in which an alleged similarity between monkeys and blacks is to be shown. The chimpanzee skull is wrongly drawn enlarged and the jaws in the middle figure are pulled forward to give the impression that the blacks are still behind the monkeys.

In 1764 Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton published his first outstanding article on craniometry: Mémoire sur les différences de la situation du grand trou occipital dans l'homme et dans les animaux ' On the different positions of the large occipital orifice in humans and animals ' . Six years later, lectures by the artist and anatomist Peter Camper were published with a list of craniometric methods. This work was fundamental for the following development. Above all, Camper's name was immortalized in anthropological literature through the point of view he found.

The increasing number of skull comparisons between humans and animals caused the first subdivisions of craniometric research when the number of scientific craniometric studies increased rapidly in the 19th century. Far-reaching comparisons between animals and humans were made by Paul Pierre Broca from France and Thomas Henry Huxley from England, who also conducted comparative race research in humans .

Anders Adolf Retzius from Stockholm developed a system to record and classify the skull in several dimensions.

Increasingly, racist ideologies made use of craniometric theories. Camper's work had already brought non-European people close to non-human apes, a view that was even held by scientists into the middle of the 20th century.

In the early 19th century, Franz Josef Gall tried to gain knowledge about human characteristics by examining the shape of the skull. It should also be possible to infer intellectual abilities in this way. For example, you should be able to recognize a murderer or thief by specific skull and face proportions. The anatomist and physiologist Theodor von Bischoff concluded from the results of craniometry that women were intellectually inadequate to pursue an academic profession.

Craniometric methods were used in medicine, anthropology, and the visual arts.

Anthropologists assumed a great historical guilt when they wanted to provide a scientific foundation for the racial madness of National Socialism in the spirit of the prevailing biologism . Based on the proportions of the skull, the population should be divided into races and state programs such as Lebensborn or the killing of “unworthy life” as part of the T4 campaign should be worked on. Despite all efforts, craniometry did not succeed in scientifically verifying alleged racial features such as large noses and ears in Jewish people. A thorough description of this dark chapter in the history of science can be found in Stephen Jay Gould ( The Mismeasure of Man , The Mismeasure of Man ' , 1981).

Measuring points

Measuring points on the skull

Most of the historical measuring points are related to the bony skull. Glabella (the most protruding point of the frontal bone in the midline) is the anterior end point, opisthocranion is the posterior end point of the largest longitudinal diameter of the skull. Eurion is the lateral end point of the greatest skull width on both sides. Orbitale is the lowest point of the eye socket . Nasion is the middle of the seam between the nasal bone and the frontal bone . Pogonion is the foremost point in the center line of the lower jaw , Gnathion the widest projection Menton the lowest point. Gonion is the middle of the transition between the body and the ascending branch of the lower jaw on both sides. Bregma is the intersection of arrow and crown seam . Lambda is the intersection of the arrow and lambda seam . Zygion is the outermost point of the zygomatic arch on both sides . Porion is the ear canal , more precisely: the highest point of the bony ear canal opening. Mastoidale is the lowest point of the mastoid protrusion . Basion is the center of the anterior border of the foramen magnum in the base of the skull . Inion is the outermost protrusion of the occiput . Vertex is the highest point of the skull, which is parallel to the German horizontal .

Further points are defined by the soft tissues of the head: Tragion lies between the tragus and the auricle . Otobasion inferius is the deepest, Otobasion superius the highest point of attachment of the auricle. Endocanthion is the inner corner of the eye , exocanthion the outer corner . Trichion is the front hairline on the center line.

Since the decline of craniometry in the 20th century, most of the terms are no longer in use. Some points are still used in plastic surgery . The German horizontal still serves as an adjustment aid for X-rays and computed tomographies of the head.

The relationships between peoples, on the other hand, are now researched primarily using genetic methods, for example by analyzing polymorphisms .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Craniometry  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sigrid Oehler-Klein: Cranioscopy, also craniology. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 789 f.
  2. ^ Dtv Brockhaus Lexicon . tape 10 . Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Wiesbaden / Munich 1982, ISBN 3-423-03310-X , p. 130 f .
  3. ^ Josiah Clark Nott , George Gliddon : Types of Mankind. 1854.
  4. ↑ Stephen Jay Gould: The wrongly measured man. Frankfurt 1988, ISBN 3-518-28183-6 , p. 26 f.
  5. ^ Aurel von Török: Basics of a systematic craniometry. Methodological guide to analyzing skull shape for the purposes of physical anthropology, comparative anatomy, as well as for the purposes of medical disciplines and the fine arts. Stuttgart 1890.