Anthropological Survey of Dimple among the Idoma & Other Indigenous Tribes of Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Dimple is a major marking on the face when present. A dimple, also called a gelasin (from Latin gelasinus) is a small natural indentation in the skin on a part of the human body, most notably in the cheek. Cheek dimples when present, show up when a person makes a facial expression, such as smiling, whereas a chin dimple is a small line on the chin that stays on the chin without making any specific facial expressions. The presence or absence of dimple is an important anthropological feature of the human face that can be used as a means of identification on the living, for a family, group of people, and tribes. The paucity of literature on the prevalence /distribution of dimple among the Idoma people and the other tribes in Benue State informed this study. Results and discussions: The survey showed that 60.3% of the indigenous tribes had dimple. Again, the distribution of the dimple among the population showed that 59.9% had cheek dimple, while 40.1% had chin dimple. The most dominant age group was 33-47 years, the most common religion was Christianity, participants who had tertiary education were more predominant, for marital status, the dominant group were married/cohabiting. The comparison of dimple distribution and the sociodemographic characteristics showed that only level of education significantly (p=0.04) associated with dimple distribution. Conclusion: The survey showed that 60.3% of the indigenous tribes had dimple. The distribution of the dimple among the population showed that 59.9% had cheek dimple, while 40.1% had chin dimple. The survey shows that three in five persons had dimple in the population, one in four persons had chin dimple, and three in eight persons had cheek dimple. The result of this study could be used as a baseline data for the Idoma people.