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 scanners. The principal advantages of photogrammetry are more rapid raw data collection, simplicity and portability of setup, and reduced equipment costs. We tested the precision and repeatability of 3D photogrammetry by comparing digital models of human crania reconstructed from conventional, 2D digital photographs to those generated using a 3D surface scanner. Overall, the photogrammetry and scanner meshes showed low degrees of deviation from one another. Surface area estimates derived from photogrammetry models tended to be slightly larger. Landmark configurations generally did not cluster together based upon whether the reconstruction was created with photogrammetry or surface scanning technology. Average deviations of landmark coordinates recorded on photogrammetry models were within the generally allowable range of error in osteometry. Thus, while dependent upon the needs of the particular research project, 3D photogrammetry appears to be a suitable, lower-cost alternative to 3D imaging and scanning options.

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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 argued that diverging observations partly result from methodological constraints. The present study compares samples of intentionally deformed and undeformed human crania, using elliptic Fourier analysis (EFA), a morphometric approach which has been shown to be particularly appropriate for characterizing the shape of two-dimensional outlines and associated shape changes. We improve the standard EFA approach by adding a preliminary orientation of the outlines following the rotation parameters of a Procrustes superimposition, using multiple homologous landmarks called control points. The results confirm that circumferentially deformed skulls exhibit modifications of the basioccipital region, together with increased anterior and inferior facial projection. However, the degree to which basioccipital flattening is modified in circumferentially deformed Peruvians was found to be less marked than changes observed in the face. Some of the modifications observed here can be related to morphological trends existing in the population from which our sample was taken. The observation of other modifications may be subject to methodological constraints of standard morphometric approaches.

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