Stature reconstruction from the cephalo-facial measurements of Brokpa Tribals of Kargil (India): A forensic anthropological investigation

Cephalometry is one of the non-invasive techniques of anthropometry used to measure head and face of a person; either living or dead. Age, sex, ethnicity and environment dependent variations have been reported in cephalometric measurements of individuals of different population groups which, in turn, can have significant influences on the biological profiling strategies adopted in medico-legal contexts. Present study was conducted to estimate stature of 251 Brokpa adult individuals (134 males and 117 females) of Kargil (J&K) from their 11 cephalo-facial measurements. Kargil falls in mountainous region of Himalayas in Northern India, situated at an altitude of 2676 meters and average annual temperatures of-48°C in winters and 35°C in summers and winters, respectively. Significant sexual dimorphism was observed in mean values of all the cephalo-facial variables (P=0.05). From multivariate regression analysis of all measurements, the head circumference and external orbital breadth, having correlation coefficient (R²=0.194) and (were selected as the best variables for predication of the stature in males and in females the head length, physiognomic facial length and external orbital breadth having coefficient correlation (R²=0.193) are the best predictors for stature estimation. The binary logistic regression it showed that total 79.3% stature on an unknown individual can be calculated from the cephalo-facial variables of Brokpa tribe.