Martin Friess

• PhD
• Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

This study analyzes the effects of bioclimate and masticatory factors on the regional variability of human cranial forms across 150 ethnic groups worldwide. Morphometric variables were generated using principal component analysis applied to 3D homologous models. Relationships between cranial form and bioclimate (temperature and precipitation) and m...

The origin of Neolithic in Liguria: a craniometric perspective. The biological origin of the earliest Italian Neolithic populations – as well as their relations both with the local Mesolithic populations and with the other European Neolithic populations – constitute important fields of research. The aim of the present study is to investigate these...

This study assessed the regional diversity of the human cranial form by using geometric homologous models based on scanned data from 148 ethnic groups worldwide. This method adopted a template-fitting technique for a nonrigid transformation via the iterative closest point algorithm to generate the homologous meshes. Through the application of princ...

Biological anthropology is the science of the physical variation of humans in time and space. The thousands of human remains that make up the National Museum of Natural History's anthropological collection, accumulated between the 17th and early 20th centuries, still hold many secrets. As true archives of human biocultural history, they offer us a...

In two publications from 1967 and 1971, M. Masali described human skeletal remains presumed to have been found in the Balzi Rossi caves (Ventimiglia, Italy), based on a signed note dated to 1908. Since then, the remains - dubbed "Conio's Finds" and preserved at the University of Torino - had not been further studied. We performed a multidisciplinar...

Objectives As hands and feet are serially repeated corresponding structures in tetrapods, the morphology of fingers and toes is expected to covary due to a shared developmental origin. The present study focuses on the covariation of the shape of proximal finger and toe phalanges of adult Homo sapiens to determine whether covariation is different in...

Les collections naturalistes ont désormais acquis une place inédite dans la recherche scientifique. Constituées à l’origine par la systématique et la taxonomie, elles se révèlent aujourd’hui fondamentales pour répondre à diverses questions scientifiques et sociétales, aussi importantes qu’actuelles.Les collections naturalistes dans la science du XX...

The cranium is an anatomically complex structure. One source of its complexity is due to its modular organization. Cranial modules are distinct and partially independent units that interact substantially during ontogeny thus generating morphological integration. Artificial Cranial Deformation (ACD) occurs when the human skull is intentionally defor...

Scenarios for the dispersal of Homo sapiens in Southern Europe and in the Mediterranean basin have been uncertain, given the scarceness of osteological samples and the simplicity of the proposed archaeologically-based settlement hypotheses. According to available data, the first anatomically modern humans entered Sicily during the Late Pleistocene,...

Introduction: Cephalometry performed on sagittal teleradiographic X-rays is commonly used for the planification of orthognathic procedures. Tomographic imaging techniques (computer tomography or cone-beam computer tomography) are more and more prescribed for the assessment of complex occlusofacial anomalies. In this study, we intended to evaluate...

Intentional cranial deformations are the result of external mechanical forces exerted on the skull vault that modify the morphology of various craniofacial structures such as the skull base, the orbits and the zygoma. In this controlled study, we investigated the 3D shape of the orbital inner mould and the orbital volume in various types of intenti...

Artificial cranial deformations (ACD) are a widespread cultural practice found in numerous historical and prehistoric contexts. Their study can yield valuable insight into craniofacial growth, specifically into the interactions between neurocranial and basicranial modules. This study seeks to reinvestigate the presumed effect of ACD on basicranial...

Intentional cranial deformations (ICD) were obtained by exerting external mechanical constraints on the skull vault during the first years of life to permanently modify head shape. The repercussions of ICD on the face are not well described in the midfacial region. Here we assessed the shape of the zygomatic bone in different types of ICDs. We cons...

Objectives: Craniofacial variation in past and present Amerindians has been attributed to the effect of multiple founder events, or to one major migration followed by in situ differentiation and possibly recurrent contacts among Circum-Arctic groups. Our study aims to: (i) detect morphological differences that may indicate several migrations; (ii)...

This study assessed three-dimensional (3D) photogrammetry as a tool for capturing and quantifying human skull morphology. While virtual reconstruction with 3D surface scanning technology has become an accepted part of the paleoanthropologist's tool kit, recent advances in 3D photogrammetry make it a potential alternative to dedicated surface scanne...

In the past, improvements in craniofacial reconstructions (CFR) methodology languished due to the lack of adequate 3D databases that were sufficiently large and appropriate for 3-dimensional shape statistics. In our study, we created the "FACE-R" database from CT records and 3D surface scans of 400 clinical patients from Hungary, providing a signif...

Intentional cranial deformations (ICD) have been observed worldwide but are especially prevalent in preColombian cultures. The purpose of this study was to assess the consequences of ICD on three cranial cavities (intracranial cavity, orbits, and maxillary sinuses) and on cranial vault thickness, in order to screen for morphological changes due to...

As virtual anthropology is becoming more and more ubiquitous, so are the means to acquire, process and analyze 3D data. Among these means, surface scanners have gained a prominent place for a variety of reasons that make them useful to anthropologists. While surface scanning has several advantages over other 3D devices (digitizers, volume scanners...

The increasing availability of 3D data and tools offers new analytical perspectives in palaeoanthropology, such as the quantitative testing of opposing phylogenetic scenarios. Using optical surface scan data and geometric morphometric techniques, this study explores calvarial shape variation in the “Middle Pleistocene muddle”. The morphological var...

Updated harness designs are needed to accommodate diverse populations in the current workforce. This paper determined an improved fall-arrest harness sizing scheme and strap-length configurations for harness design. A 3-D elliptic Fourier analysis (EFA) procedure with 123 coefficients was developed to quantify torso-shape effect on harness fit, bas...

in "Américan Journal of Physical Anthropology" (vol. 138)

dans American Journal of Physical Anthropology (vol. 138, p. 240 )

LES DÉFORMATIONS INTENTIONNELLES DU CRÂNE : APPROCHE PATHOGRAPHIQUE Introduction La grande majorité des études abordant les déformations intentionnelles du crâne s'intéresse aux paramètres morphométriques statistiquement significatifs rendant compte de telle ou telle méthode de compression de la voûte. Dans un cadre pathographique, devant un crâne...

Throughout childhood, braincase and face grow at different rates and therefore exhibit variable proportions and positions relative to each other. Our understanding of the direction and magnitude of these growth patterns is crucial for many ergonomic applications and can be improved by advanced 3D morphometrics. The purpose of this study is to inves...

Various statistical approaches have been advocated that aim at creating statistically meaningful and representative models of human variation. While they all have in common the idea to summarize the critical space needed by the user population by a discrete number of cases, substantial differences exist as to how exactly these cases are identified....

The increasing trend towards larger body mass in work force and consumer populations poses a challenge for accommodating and fitting the shifting range of variation. The change of body shape and proportions under the influence of weight can be addressed with multivariate statistical approaches, common in allometry studies that use whole body models...

Fall protection harnesses are commonly used to reduce the number and severity of injuries. Increasing the efficiency of harness design requires the size and shape variation of the user population to be assessed as detailed and as accurately as possible 3 . In light of the unsatisfactory performance of traditional anthropometry with respect to such...

The anatomical effects of artificial cranial deformation on the face and the base have been subject to various metric approaches, including standard linear as well as finite element techniques, and have produced controversial results (Antón [1989] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 79:253-267; Kohn et al. [1993] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 90:147-158). It can be...

This study investigates the use of geometric morphometrics as well as methodological aspects specifically related to its application in paleoanthropology. Based on lateral photographs taken from a fossil sample of 58 specimens, a relative warps analysis was computed in order to assess the variation of cranial shape among various hominin groups. The...

Anthrotech martin@anthrotech.net This paper presents an analysis of human torso shape in 3 dimensions with the goal of improving the design and accommodation efficiency of fall harnesses. For this purpose, a sample of 98 male and female adults of mixed ethnic background were scanned using a Cyberware 3D whole body scanner. The initial scan data, re...