Phenotypic diversity of skulls in the Merovingian population (Norroy ‐le‐Veneur cemetery, 7th century AD, Moselle, France) in the context of Early Medieval Europe

AbstractWestern Europe underwent a major sociocultural and economic transformation from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. This so ‐called Migration Period is characterized by invasions of various western and eastern non‐Romanized peoples, as well as by nomadic Huns. The Frankish state was the only Germanic state to successfully survive this period. Nevertheless, the arrival of unknown populations could have influenced the autochthonous Frankish population. Biological contacts between them are strongly reflected phenotypically in head/skull dimensions. The aim of this craniometric analysis of the Merovingian cemetery at Norroy‐le‐Veneur (NV), present‐day France, is to contribute to an understanding of population changes during the Migration Period. The NV data were compared, using univariate statistical analysis adapted to the state of preservation of the skulls without the use of imputation techniques, with the current database of European burials. Intersexual and interpopulation differences were tested b y bootstrap two‐samplet test applied to winsorized measurements, indices and theirz scores. Overall, NV is similar in terms of skull shape to the other Merovingian cemeteries. Males have significantly longer ultradolichocephalic skulls than dolichocephalic females and greater biauricular width. NV is significantly different to burials in present ‐day Hungary, its individuals having significantly longer skulls, wider faces and wider skulls in the biauricu...
Source: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology - Category: Science Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research