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Nonmetric Trait Correlation: A Look At Environmental And Biological Influences On Third Trochanter Formation Among Pre-Contact Upper Midwest Populations, Sarah Jean Binkley

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Nonmetric traits of the human skeleton are thought to correlate with genetic and/or environmental influences; however, to what extent each may affect the presence of nonmetric traits has not been clearly substantiated in the literature. Nonmetric traits as defined by Larsen are, "discrete or quasi-continuous anatomical entities often expressed as gradations from absence to full expression" (1997:305). More precisely, nonmetric traits are anomalies that express themselves in the skeleton and are recorded as absent or present. A third trochanter is one of many nonmetric traits present in the femur and is defined by Finnegan as, "a rounded tubercle that can …