Research suggests fingerprint analysis may reveal ancestral background

Anthropologists have studied Type 1 fingerprint characteristics, such as pattern type and ridge counts. Law enforcement fingerprint analysis has focused on more specific Type 2 fingerprint characteristics – ridge ending and bifurcation (splitting into two ridges) – for individual uniqueness.

In a new study, both Type 1 and Type 2 fingerprint characteristics were examined to see if there were differences between the sexes, and also ancestral differences. While there were no significant differences between the fingerprints of men and women, there were significant differences in the Type 2 characteristics of the fingerprints of people with European American or African American ancestry.

More research needs to be done, on a larger and more diverse sample of fingerprints. But the results, if conclusive, will be helpful to law enforcement agencies, adding another layer of analysis in forensic science, and to anthropologists, in the study of global population structures.

Ancestral background can be determined by fingerprints

Matt Shipman for Phys.org, September 28, 2015

Sex, Ancestral, and pattern type variation of fingerprint minutiae: A forensic perspective on anthropological dermatoglyphics

Authors: Nichole A. Fournier, Ann H. Ross

First published: 23 September 2015Full publication history

DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22869