Prehistoric human morphological variation in Australia
Abstract
This thesis seeks to account for patterns of variation of non-metric
traits of the skull in Australian Aboriginal skeletal
populations. Forty-five features are examined for variation in 38
samples, comprising over 2500 individuals. Two complementary methods
are used to describe the data. These are logistic regression and
cluster analysis. The former tests the concordance of trait
variability to geography (longitude and latitude), 3 clinal effects
(east and south coasts and Murray River), a comparison of islands to
mainland Australia (Tasmania, Torres Strait and Melville) and an
investigation of the relative importance of time and space variation
in the Upper Murray. Cluster analysis of a pairwise distance matrix,
calculated by the Mean Measure of Divergence, has been used to examine
population affinities.
Trait frequencies are significant., associated with factors of
geography. These are interpretable as clines :;;panning the continent,
the east coast and the River Murray. From the multivariate results,
two major divisions are identified, a large northern and a much
smaller southeastern zone. The River Murray stands out as a region of
extreme diversity. The identification of small regional patterns as
clines and clusters gives rise to an interpretation of variation based
mainly on gen~ flow. It in suggested that diversity is the result of
gene flow and the particular spatial relationships that restrict flow.