Short report: Is the Circumference at the Nutrient Foramen of the Tibia of Value to Sex Determination on Human Osteological Collections? Testing a New Method (original) (raw)
Related papers
2014
Physical secular changes in the human skeleton may interfere with the reliability of metric methods so these should be monitored from time to time to make sure that they are still up to date. In this research, sex estimation methods conventionally applied to the Portuguese population and developed on a collection from the 19th and early 20th centuries were tested in a sample of recently deceased individuals (N = 82) with the same ancestry composed of skeletons exhumed from the civil cemetery of Prado do Repouso (Porto). Referenced sex discriminating cut-off points were applied to the latter and the percentage of correct classification resulting from this procedure was calculated. A positive secular trend was found for the dimensions of most features that were investigated with clear implications for metric sex estimation. In comparison with the published values, the correct classification rates obtained on the modern sample were smaller in most cases. In particular, the results indicated that the use of established references for tarsal bones to sex estimate recent individuals is unadvisable. Therefore, new metric references developed on modern individuals are needed for the evaluation of remains from recent forensic contexts. Alternatively, when those are not available, more conservative interpretations of the results obtained through the application of outdated references are required when applied to modern individuals.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2021
This paper aims to systematically investigate the value of combining traits from different anatomical regions in osteological sexing by contrasting the utility of single traits and established scores with those of ensembles of traits from single or multiple anatomical regions, allowing metric and morphological traits to be combined. The utility was defined as the fraction of the population for whom we could reach a posterior probability above 95% of being male or female. A total of 675 adult individuals from the sixth to eighth century AD cemetery of Mannheim Bösfeld, Germany, were assessed, and 27 postcranial metric traits and 41 morphological traits from the pelvis, mandible, and cranium were used. In addition, 13 metric and 3 morphological scores were considered. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used to construct rules and cross validation to determine accuracy and utility. These parameters were determined for single traits and scores, trait groups defined by anatomical regions and/or previously considered in the literature, and ensembles of traits defined by selecting several promising traits from different anatomical regions. Accuracy of single traits ranged from 0.76 to 0.94, with scores even reaching 0.97, but utility remained around 0.2-0.4 for metric traits and up to 0.6 for morphological traits. Only scores and ensembles combining traits from different anatomical regions reached a utility above 0.7; that is, sex could be estimated in more than 70% of the individuals with a posterior probability above 95%. When selecting a limited number of traits for systematic sexing in a human skeletal series, it is advisable to select traits from different anatomical regions to obtain a reasonably reliable result in as many individuals as possible. Large scale investigations covering all relevant anatomical regions and involving a wide range of populations are required for more precise recommendations.
Cadernos do GEEvH 3 (1), 2014
Physical secular changes in the human skeleton may interfere with the reliability of metric methods so these should be monitored from time to time to make sure that they are still up to date. In this research, sex estimation methods conventionally applied to the Portuguese population and developed on a collection from the 19 th and early 20 th centuries were tested in a sample of recently deceased individuals (N = 82) with the same ancestry composed of skeletons exhumed from the civil cemetery of Prado do Repouso (Porto). Referenced sex discriminating cutoff points were applied to the latter and the percentage of correct classification resulting from this procedure was calculated.
Sex estimation from the navicular bone in Spanish contemporary skeletal collections
Forensic Science International, 2016
Sexual estimation is fundamental to reconstruct the biological profile of individuals, but postdepositional factors can alter the resistance of the bones, thereby preventing accurate diagnosis especially when the skull and the pelvis are absent. Navicular bones are usually well preserved in archeological and forensic contexts and can a good alternative to discriminate sex. On the basis of these aspects, the present investigation analyzed the sexual dimorphism in 231 pairs of navicular bones from documented contemporary collections from Spain. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and binary logistic regressions were carried out in eight replicable linear measurements of the navicular bone. Each of the eight variables showed a significant sexual dimorphism in our sample. The ROC curve results indicate that at least five out of the eight variables used have high ability for sex diagnosis, among which the maximum length of the cuneiform surface (LMAXCUN) showed a better performance (area under the curve value = 0.86). Moreover, we introduced regression equations with combination of measurements that correctly allocated the skeletons with 80% or greater accuracy. The equation with high allocation accuracy rate (83.4%) included a combination of the maximum height of the navicular (HMAX), maximum length of the cuneiform surface (LMAXCUN), and maximum length of the talar facet (LMAXTAL). The regression equations presented here are useful for the Western Mediterranean populations and offer better alternatives than formulas based on other population groups.
Anthropological Review
Several studies have shown that sex estimation methods based on measurements of the skeleton are specific to populations. Metric traits of the upper long bones have been reported as reliable indicators of sex. This study was designed to determine whether the four long bones can be used for the sex estimation of an historical skeletal population from Radom (Poland). The material used consists of the bones of 169 adult individuals (including 103 males and 66 females) from the 18th and 19th centuries. Twelve measurements were recovered from clavicle, humerus, radius and ulna. The initial comparison of males and females indicated significant differences in all measurements (p < 0.0001). The accuracy of sex estimation ranged from 68% to 84%. The best predictor for sex estimation of all the measurements in Radom’s population was the maximum length of the radius (84%), and the ulna (83%), and the vertical diameter of the humeral head (83%). The Generalized Linear Model (GLM) detected th...
SEX DETERMINATION USING THE TIBIA IN AN ANCIENT ANATOLIAN POPULATION
Sex determination is an important issue of anthropological and forensic sciences. Determination of sex is a priority issue for further analysis of unidentified ancient human remains, because all techniques of identification are markedly different for males and females. The present study provides sex determination using discriminant analysis from tibia measurements in an ancient Anatolian population. In this study, a total of 7 tibia measurements were taken from 123 adults of known sex (62 males and 61 females) in Medieval Dilkaya population (A.D. 10th century). Osteometric measurements included were the length, circumference of midshaft and minimum, transverse and sagittal diameters of midshaft and nutrient foramen levels. Data were analyzed by student t-test and discriminant analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 13.0 program. Results showed that grouping due to sex differentiations was accurate by tibia metric values between 73.5% and 90.2% in Dilkaya population. The midshaft circumference was the best single discriminating variable and results of this study compare with other studies. It is suggested that discriminant formulas developed by tibia measurements in this study can be used for sex determination accurately on fragmentary skeletal remains in ancient Anatolian populations.
The accuracy of the sex determination of cremated human remains is one of the vital parameters for archaeologists and skeletal anthropologists dealing with cremations. Few studies have so far aimed at testing it. In the present paper, the accuracy of the sexing techniques was assessed by paralleling biological sex (identified morphologically) to gender (presumed on the basis of the grave goods which accompanied the deceased). A collection of cremated bones from East Lithuanian barrows (c. fourth/fifth – eleventh/twelfth centuries AD) was employed. The fragmentary nature and poor state of the bones generally represents cremains from similar archaeological contexts. The database inevitably underwent several stages of filtration. Out of 364 cremations with a minimum of 445 individuals, only 157 were sexed single adult burials, of which only 81 had "gender-related" grave goods. The relationship of artefact type to gender was defined statistically, revising the results in line with the chronological and typological differences and the probable symbolism of the grave goods. Sex and gender coincided in 56 cases (69.14%), but a considerable distance between the results for both sexes was observed. Biological females displayed a fairly high match level, i.e. 35 out of the 41 (85.37%) individuals osteologically identified as females had been given "feminine" items. The burials of biological males, on the other hand, yielded a surprisingly low match rate, i.e. only 21 out of 40 (52.50%). This disparity suggests a possible misinterpretation of grave goods as gender markers, rather than (only?) erroneous sexing. It is thus argued that for females, the mean value for the accuracy of sexing is 85.5%. In most cases, such precision is entirely satisfactory for the analysis of a poorly-preserved osteological material. For males, however, the accuracy is likely to fall somewhere in the range between 52.5 and 85.5%, with the applied methodology so far failing to contribute to higher precision.
Sexual dimorphism of the tibia in contemporary Greeks, Italians, and Spanish: forensic implications
There are many population-specific studies around the world on sex estimation from skeletal remains. Of the long bones, the tibia has been an important one because it is commonly studied to assess population specificity of a long bone. However, the studies in Europe that use this bone for sex estimation remain limited. The aim of this study is to analyse the tibia in different populations of the southern Europe such as Greece, Italy, and Spain providing standards for sex estimation in a forensic context. In total, we analyzed tibiae of 157 Greek, 190 Italian, and 105 Spanish individuals. Standard osteometric measurements were taken and the data was analyzed using discriminant function statistics. Posterior probabilities were calculated for all produced formulae. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS subroutines. All measurements were significantly different between the sexes in all three populations and in the pooled sample. A discriminant function of the pooled sample for Southern Europeans resulted in about 88 %accuracy using all three variables. Over 43 % of the individuals were correctly classified at a 0.95 threshold. More work should be done including other Southern European populations to this database to further test the applicability of the method