Fragmentary femora: Evaluation of the accuracy of the direct and indirect methods in stature reconstruction

Selected measurements of the femur have been used in the derivation of regression equations for stature estimation in several populations. Various studies have indicated that stature can be estimated from fragmentary bones by either the direct or the indirect method. The direct method allows for the estimation of stature directly from individual or combination of measurements of fragments of the femur. However, the indirect method consists of two steps. An initial step which involves the estimation of maximum length of the femur from measurements of its fragments is followed by stature estimation from the estimated maximum length of the femur. While Steele noted that the indirect method provides a relatively more precise estimate of stature, none of the subsequent studies on stature reconstruction has addressed the issue of accuracy of the two methods. The current study utilized 120 complete skeletons obtained from the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons. Total skeletal height for each of the skeletons (TSHFully) was calculated using the Fully's method. Measurements of fragments of the femur acquired from the current study were substituted into each of the previously derived equations for Indigenous South Africans (ISA) and South Africans of European Descent (SAED) in order to obtain an estimate of the skeletal height (TSHEst). Analyses were carried out separately for each group. An assessment of the differences between the estimated skeletal height (TSHEst) and the obtained skeletal height using the Fully's method (TSHFully) was performed using the paired t test. While no significant difference was observed between TSHFully and TSHEst for all equations (except one) used in the direct estimation of skeletal height, a number of indirect equations significantly overestimated TSHFully. These observations indicate that the direct method is more accurate than the indirect method. Since it is also less complicated, it is therefore the preferred of the two methods contrary to earlier recommendation made by Steele.