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

Sawyer and colleagues (1978) documented the mylohyoid bridging in three populations.
The pre-Columbian Peruvian sample consisted of 122 juvenile and adults. Age was determined
osteologically and sex was determined through cultural artifacts, examination of external
genitalia, and osteolgical examination of the pelves. European Americans (n = 90) and African
Americans (117) from the Terry Anatomical Collection were analyzed for comparison.
Individuals from this collection have a known age and sex. The incidence of mylohyoid bridging
is 17.6% in the Peruvian population, with 30.9% of females and 6.7% of males exhibiting the
trait. In the European American sample, 16.1% expressed the trait, with 31.6% being females
and 12.0% being males. The African American sample had an incidence of 15.4% of expression
of mylohyoid bridging, with 27.8% of females and 9.9% of males exhibiting the trait.
Sawyer and colleagues found that side was not statistically significant for this trait,
however, sex was found to be significant, with females having a higher incidence of mylohyoid
bridging in all three populations. The frequency of mylohyoid bridging in the Peruvian sample is
similar to the frequencies found by Ossenberg (1974) in her American Indian samples, ranging
from 13.0% to 33.8%. Since their observed frequency of mylohyoid bridging falls in the range
of Ossenberg’s sample, Sawyer and colleagues suggest that mylohyoid bridging is a trait that is
common in individuals of Asian descent and it may be used for ancestral studies. However, their
European American and African American samples also fall within the range of American
Indians, indicating that this trait may not be as specific to Asian populations as they
hypothesized.
Sawyer and Kiely (1987) analyzed the incidence of mylohyoid bridging in an Asian
Indian population. Two-hundred and thirty four individuals were documented, 125 males and
109 females. Sex was determined osteologically from the skull. All statistical tests were
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