CLARION, Pa. — Dr. Matthew Rhode, professor of anthropology at Clarion University, will present “Ancestry Assessment and Forensic Anthropology: A Toothy Perspective” on Wednesday, October 25.

The event begins at 7:00 p.m. in Founders Hall, Room 105.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

The estimation of ancestry by forensic anthropologists remains a contentious issue due to the dichotomy between biological and social race. One method that is used to assess ancestry is the shape of the upper dental arch, which exhibits broad patterns representing Asian, black and white populations. This research examines if it is possible to apply this method to the lower dental arch using geometric morphometrics and multivariate statistics, which generates some surprising results.