Introduction

Somatoscopy is a qualitative method using a descriptive characterization in evaluation of human body features (i.e. verbal evaluation). It belongs among the basic methods used to study biological variability of humans. And that is why it is used in anthropology, medicine or criminalistic and forensic fields. Even though at the present age, metric and morphometric approaches are becoming more and more preferred because of the struggle for higher objectivity and repeatability of methods, somatoscopy can be considered a rightful alternative in cases in which the use of metric methods is too difficult or even impossible.

About the catalogue

This interactive electronic teaching aid contains teaching texts and it allows browsing, searching and printing of basic types and forms of somatoscopic (non-metric) body traits. The catalogue contains somatoscopic traits of face and body in the form of shaded graphics and contours. The teaching aid contains frequencies (percentage representation) of categories of selected face traits in Czech population. The data is based on a set of 100 Czech men and 100 Czech women between the ages of 18 and 35. This teaching aid also contains frequencies (percentage representation) of categories of selected body traits in current Czech population. The data is based on a set of 309 people, specifically 164 men (53 %) and 145 women (47 %). The age of people in the examined population ranged from 25 to 69 years of age. In men, the population median was 44 years of age and the age ranged from 25 to 66 years of age. In women, the population median was 48 years of age and the age ranged from 25 to 65 years of age.