Christopher W. Schmidt - University of Indianapolis Archeology ...

the frequency of a given trait in one or multiple populations. These traits have been analyzed
since the late 1800’s and are primarily those that can be easily detected with the human eye.
Such traits include mandibular tori, the number and position of mental foramina, and mylohyoid
bridging, which will be discussed in detail due to their abundance in the literature.
Mandibular tori studies. The mandibular torus is perhaps the most studied anomaly of
the mandible, perhaps because when it is present, it can hardly go unnoticed. Danielli (1884)
and Hansen (1887 & 1895) were the first to document this anomaly, which was later given the
name torus mandibularis by Furst (1908) (as cited in Fenner, 1939 and Hrdlicka, 1940).
Mandibular tori frequencies have been noted to differ between some populations (Hrdlicka,
1940; Klatsky, 1956; Sawyer et al., 1979; Sellevold, 1980; Sonnier et al. 1999), vary in size and
shape (Hooton, 1918; Fenner, 1939; Hrdlicka, 1940; Klatsky, 1956; Sellevold, 1980; Eggen &
Natvig, 1994), and may vary depending on age and sex (Hrdlicka, 1940; Johnson et al., 1965;
Mayhall et al., 1970; Muller & Mayhall, 1971; Eggen & Natvig, 1994).
Most early studies are concerned primarily with describing and documenting the
occurrence of mandibular tori in different populations. These studies do not perform any
statistical analyses, nor do they separate individuals by age or sex. In 1918, Hooton documented
mandibular tori on a 5-point, semi-ordinal scale (absent, slight, medium, pronounced, and very
pronounced) in 56 Icelandic mandibles. Of these, 67.9% displayed at least slight mandibular
tori. Fenner (1939) also examined mandibular tori in Australians, Melasians, and Tasmanians.
He also used a 5-point scale (absent, very small, small, medium, and large). A total of 598
individuals were examined and only 17 (2.8%) displayed at least a slight mandibular torus; none
were assigned to the “large” category.
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