IJAR.2025.213
Type of Article: Original Research
Volume 13; Issue 3 (September 2025)
Page No.: 9326-9331
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.16965/ijar.2025.213
Morphometric Analysis of Accessory Vessel Grooves on the Frontal Bone: First Documented Cases from Namibia
Jan Van der Merwe 1, Quenton Wessels *1, Anneli Poolman 1.
1 Division of Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
ORCiD:
Jan Van der Merwe: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5934-7690
Quenton Wessels: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8539-5459
Anneli Poolman: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6564-7687
Corresponding author: Quenton Wessels, Professor, Division of Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Namibia, Bach Street, Windhoek, Namibia. E-Mail: qwessels@unam.na
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the first documented cases of accessory vessel grooves on the external cranial vault from Namibia. These nonmetric anatomical variants were observed on two dry skulls housed at the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute in Windhoek. A morphometric analysis was conducted to document the precise location and measurements of these grooves relative to established cranial osteological landmarks. Accurate identification of such traits is critical in distinguishing normal anatomical variation from cranial trauma, pathological lesions, or taphonomic damage during forensic analysis. This study contributes to the limited literature on cranial vascular imprint variation in African skeletal samples and highlights the need for further research on the morphometric characterization of accessory vessel grooves in forensic and bioarchaeological contents.
Keywords: Accessory vessel grooves, Frontal bone, Nonmetric trait, Forensic anthropology, Supraorbital artery, Namibia.
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