User:Dario Agazzi/sandbox
Stature is the measurement of length of the human body between the soles of the feet and the vertex (the highest point of the head) obtained by positioning the head in such a way as to make an ideal horizontal plane that passes through the auditory foramina and the lower margin of the left ocular orbit.
To obtain the measure an anthropometer can be used:
The subject should stand as erect as possible. His arms should hang on the sides, the heels touch one another and the vision of eye must be directed to the horizontal plane as parallel to the floor for keeping the head in natural position.The anthropometer should be kept in vertical position in the median sagittal plane, close to the subject and the moving-cross bar is allowed to touch the vertex lightly. To maintain vertical position of the anthropometer, a goniometer may be attached to its fixed cross-bar. The measurement should be taken carefully. Indrani Basu Roy (2016). Anthropology: The Study of Man. S. Chand & Company. ISBN 9788121922593.
Somatic character that expresses the order of magnitude of the maximum parameter of the human body, stature is constitutional, due to multiple genetic and environmental factors. It varies in relation to ethnicity, to individuals, to the hours of the day—the real stature measurement taken upon waking can decrease by up to 3 cm in the evening (Joseph Deniker)—, to the phases of life—the natural process of human height decline begins around age 30, in both sexes, greater for women than for men[1]—and is an expression of somatic growth, at the end of which in physiological conditions it varies between the approximately analytical anthropological limits of the human norm included in the interval 125 cm–199cm, according to Deniker.
The scales as devised by different authorities and used in anthropology are given below:
Topinard's scale
According to Paul Topinard (1830-1911), author of one of the most important anthropological essay, L'Anthropologie (C. Reinwald et C.ie, Paris 1877), statures are distributed as follows, considering an average difference of 12 cm between male and female, with a ratio determined by the scholar of 1.00:0.927:
| Pygmy | below 50 cm |
|---|---|
| Short | 150–160cm |
| Under Average | 160–165 |
| Above Average | 165–170 cm |
| Tall | 170 cm and above |
| Pygmy | below 38 cm |
|---|---|
| Short | 138–148 cm |
| Under Average | 148–153 cm |
| Above Average | 153–158 cm |
| Tall | 158 cm and above |
Footnotes
- ↑ In men from ages 30 to 70 the decline is about 3 cm; for women, about 5 cm. By age 80, the decline increases to about 5 cm for men and about 8 cm for women.