Measurement from the Viewpoint of Anthropology

Abstract

Anthropology consists of cultural anthropology and physical anthropology; the former is the study on human cultures and the latter is the biology of human beings. This review mainly describes the method of morphological measurement of human body, especially human bones including a fossil bone, and present-day human body. Using the measurement points of human body, standardized worldwide, a distance between the two points, an angle made by the three points, and the circumference were recorded. Fourier analysis has recently been applied to morphological analysis, and the obtained data was analyzed by a multivariate analysis in order to clarify morphological characteristics and points of resemblance. However, few studies are available describing the relation between morphological characteristics and function, and one major problem has been remained unsolved. © 1996, The Society of Physical Therapy Science. All rights reserved.