Morphometric Analysis of Accessory Vessel Grooves (AVG) in the Skulls of the Ancient Spradon Population: An Anthropological Approach

Abstract

Accessory vessel grooves (AVG), or accessory vessel sulcus, is the name given to grooves seen in the frontal region of the skull. In studies conducted by anthropologists on antiquity skeletons, it is seen that some variations are confused with traumas due to the unknown skeletal morphology. This situation leads to an incorrect evaluation of the socio-economic or health structure of the population. In this study, an accessory vessel grooves research was carried out on the skeletons of the late Roman-early Byzantine population. Studies were conducted on 69 adult human skeletons of known age and sex, and 3 human skeletal skulls whose sex could not be determined. Accessory vessel grooves rate was calculated as 10.54 % in the Spradon ancient population. While there is 10.52 % AVG in female individuals in the population, lower AVG levels have been detected in males compared to females with 9.67 %. There is no significant difference between male and female individuals in terms of AVG. Although the lengths of AVG differ in the right and left frontal, it can be said that there is no difference in direction. Although the relation of AVG variation with high blood pressure is included in the literature, the intense appearance of this structure in the Spradon Population, especially in young individuals, weakens this hypothesis. The literature on the existence of AVG will expand further with the studies to be carried out on ancient Anatolian populations in the following years.