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Statistical Analysis Of Nonmetric Cranial Trait Interactions In A Skeletal Population Sample From The Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Lisa C. Brown

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Skeletal nonmetric traits have been used since the 1960s in genetic distance analyses, largely ignoring the potential for intertrait correlation. Using a skeletal population sample from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, this thesis tests the null hypothesis that intertrait correlation is not occurring in the population at a significant level. Additionally, this thesis tests whether the odds ratio is a suitable statistical test for intertrait correlation. Using the phi coefficient and odds ratio, pairwise comparisons between 39 cranial nonmetric traits were calculated. The results of the statistical analysis show that intertrait correlation is occurring in the Dakhleh Oasis at a significant …