Non-metric traits, also known as discrete traits, discontinuous morphological traits, or epigenetic variants, are a part of normal human variation and are not pathological in nature. As the name suggests, it is thought that they have some sort of genetic basis. They are usually recorded as either “present” or “absent,” or they can be scored on a continuous scale. Their very nature means that they can’t often be quantified, though they can be used in conjunction with other things for identification of an individual or for population studies.
Often subdivided into cranial, dental, and postcranial traits, they can be extra bones, articular differences, variations in the number of foramina, extra ossification of a particular feature, or ossification failure.
Non-metric traits include Wormian bones (top), sternal foramina (2nd row left), metopic sutures which persist into adulthood (2nd row right), calcaneal notches (bottom), third trochanters of the femur, and vertebral number shifts, among other things. Dental metric traits in particular, such as shoveled incisors or differing cusp numbers, can be used to guess population affinity.
Buikstra, J.E. & Ubelaker. D.H. (eds) 1994, Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains: Proceedings of a Seminar at the Museum of Natural History, Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Series, No. 44. Fayetteville, Arkansas.
White, Tim D. & Folkens, P.A. 2005, The Human Bone Manual. Elsevier Academic Press.Burlington, MA
The Museum of London: Center for Human Bioarchaeology Database of Photographs: <http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Centre-for-Human-Bioarchaeology/Resources/Photographs/Default.htm>
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