Facial Structures of Men and Women Have Become More Similar Over Time

A study conducted by North Carolina State University shows that women facial structures are becoming less pronounced. The study examined hundreds of skulls from Spain and Portugal over a time span of four centuries. They used over 200 skulls from Spain dating from 20th and 16th century and about 50 skulls from 20th century Portugal. By observing these skulls, researchers found that the craniofacial differences between the more recent skulls were less pronounced than the skulls from the 16th century. While both sexes in Spain have had changes in their facial structures, women have had more significant changes. Women in Spain now have a much larger facial structure than the women in the 16th century which may be due to improved nutrition and environmental factors. By assessing the 16th century skulls and comparing them with the 20th century skulls has allowed researchers to see how the facial structures have changed over time. Documenting these changes helps to characterize older remains. Using the standards of the 16th century, identifying someone of the 20th century could be misleading due to the fact that sex differences can and do change over time. Keeping updated information on the changes in facial structure is useful in identifying someone by their remains. Declaring the sex of a person has many applications including criminal investigations and academic research.

This study also found that the craniofacial sexual differences in Spain were very similar to the ones found in Portugal which implies that the standards for identifying sex can be applied regionally.

I reported on this article just because it seemed interesting to me. I enjoy reading and learning about how things change over time. I also think that it is important to do research and keep updated information in order to successfully identify and efficiently do our work.

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110404093155.htm