The Etruscans. Anthropologists are still trying to unravel the mystery of the origins of the Etruscan empire, a highly advanced Italic civilization formed around the eighth century B.C. in central Italy. Were they native to the Italian peninsula or, as many aspects of their civilization suggest, did they migrate from the East by land or sea? The maximum head breadth, in millimeters, of 70 modern Italian male skulls and 84 preserved Etruscan male skulls was analyzed to help researchers decide whether the Etruscans were native to Italy.

The resulting data can be found on the WeissStats site. [SOURCE:

N. Barnicot and D. Brothwell, “The Evaluation of Metrical Data in the Comparison of Ancient and Modern Bones.” In Medical Biology and Etruscan Origins, G. Wolstenholme and C. O’Connor, eds., Little, Brown & Co., 1959]

a. Obtain normal probability plots, boxplots, and the standard deviations for the two samples.

b. Based on your results from part (a), which would you be inclined to use to compare the population means: a pooled or a nonpooled t-procedure? Explain your answer.

c. Do the data provide sufficient evidence to conclude that a difference exists between the mean maximum head breadths of modern Italian males and Etruscan males? Perform the required hypothesis test at the 5% significance level by using both the pooled t-test and the nonpooled t-test. Compare your results.

d. Find a 95% confidence interval for the difference between the mean maximum head breadths of modern Italian males and Etruscan males. Obtain the required confidence interval by using both the pooled t-interval procedure and the nonpooled t-interval procedure. Compare your results.

Extending the Concepts and Skills