| Abstract: |
Multivariate procedures are applied to metrical and non-metrical data recorded on early metal age crania from Ban Chiang, Northeast Thailand, for a comparison with prehistoric and more modern samples from Southeast Asia, Mainland East Asia, and the Pacific. While craniometric analyses (Mahalanobis' D<sup>2</sup> and stepwise discriminant function analysis) fail to show any associations between Ban Chiang and the remaining samples, distances based on the percentage frequencies of discrete traits of the skull suggest a relatively close relationship between Ban Chiang and two other prehistoric samples from Southeast Asia. Slightly different results were obtained when a recently suggested (Green & Suchey,1976) modification of Berry & Berry (1967) distance statistic was applied to these non-metrical data. Because of the limited size of the present sample and the different results obtained when discrete traits and cranial measurements are used, the continued use of metrical and non-metrical kinds of data is recommended.
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