University researchers have published a proof-of-concept study which suggests it could be possible to determine an individual's ancestral background simply through characteristics of their fingerprint.The paper, “Sex, Ancestral, and Pattern Type Variation of Fingerprint Minutiae: A Forensic Perspective on Anthropological Dermatoglyphics,” was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology last week.Rather, using Level 2 details – the more specific variations, such as bifurcations, where a fingerprint ridge splits, the researchers were able to identify patterns between, say, people of European American and African American ancestry.Researchers looked at Level 1 and Level 2 details of right index-finger fingerprints for 243 individuals: 61 African American women; 61 African American men; 61 European American women; and 60 European American men. The fingerprints were analysed, with significant differences in the Level 2 details of fingerprints between people of European American and African American ancestry.”This is the first study to look at this issue at this level of detail, and the findings are extremely promising,” said Ann Ross, a professor of anthropology at North Carolina State University and senior author of a paper describing the work, told Phys.org. “But more work needs to be done. We need to look at a much larger sample size and evaluate individuals from more diverse ancestral backgrounds.””A lot of additional work needs to be done, but this holds promise for helping law enforcement,” Ross says. “And it's particularly important given that, in 2009, the National Academy of Sciences called for more scientific rigor in forensic science – singling out fingerprints in particular as an area that merited additional study.”This finding also tells us that there's a level of variation in fingerprints that is of interest to anthropologists, particularly in the area of global population structures – we just need to start looking at the Level 2 fingerprint details,” Ross says.

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