Craniometric variability of prehistoric populations from the Nile Valley

The Nile Valley area has a rich history, during which there were population changes of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt and its neighbouring Nubia. The aim of the thesis was to observe a morphological similarity of skulls between two prehistoric populations from the site Mirgissa and necropolis Wadi Qitna and Kalabsha South, following the migrations of populations in the Nile Valley, based on morphometric analysis. Considering previous studies describing a biological continuity within local populations of Egypt and Nubia, we expected morphological differences corresponding with a temporal and geographical distance of examined groups. Evaluation of the population variability was performed using methods of geometrical morphometrics (Procrustes analysis, PCA and TPS). The results of the analysis between Mirgissa and Wadi Qitna groups showed differences between Egyptians from the site Mirgissa and Nubian residents of Wadi Qitna. The population from the locality of Mirgissa demonstrated superiority of the europoid features (larger cone-shaped skull with a relatively high and narrow facial skeleton, smaller depth of the face, narrow nasal aperture, distinct midface), which confirms their Egyptian origin. However there were found a secondary Nubian traces, for example maxillary prognathism, especially among women,..