Sex assessment on the basis of long bone circumference

Abstract

Discriminant functions have long been used to classify individuals into groups according to the dimensions of their bones. Although lengths, widths, and diameters have been extensively used, the circumferences have not been adequately validated. In this work, the importance that the circumferences of long bones can have in assigning the sex of ancient human remains is demonstrated. The functions produced by using just one circumference achieved accuracies higher than 80%, and circumference at the radial tuberosity of the radius is able to classify 92.8% of skeletons from the Late Roman site of Mas Rimbau/Mas Mallol (Spain). When functions are produced by using more than one circumference, they can achieve the uppermost classification attained in this sample. The functions also showed that the arm circumference functions are more useful than those of the leg, probably because male individuals of the population had greater mechanical stress than did females. The classification percentages, as well as other statistical values for the functions, demonstrated the great ability of long bone circumferences in helping to classify the sex of individuals of other sites of the Mediterranean area besides the ones examined in this study.

Sex estimation standards for medieval and contemporary Croats

“…It is not surprising that discriminant functions developed for one sample may apply to samples from other periods but the same geographical area (7,12,14) or that they reach higher accuracies on test sample like in our case. This phenomenon is most likely a consequence of the same or the similar origin, similar morphology, and similarly expressed sexual dimorphism (14).…”

“…This phenomenon is most likely a consequence of the same or the similar origin, similar morphology, and similarly expressed sexual dimorphism (14). Higher classification rates also can be explained.…”

“…However, the limitation of discriminant functions is their population specificity; therefore, they should be developed for each population or region separately. Some studies have also shown that discriminant functions designed for anthropological samples can be applied to contemporary samples from the same area (14). …”

An Evaluation of Determination of Handedness Using Standard Osteological Measurements*

“…The independent variables were entered together with the prior possibilities based upon group sizes. Following Safont et al (17), those functions for which the Eigenvalue exceeded 1.5 and the value of Wilk's lambda was below .400 were considered to be most statistically valid.…”

A Method for Estimating Sex Using Metric Analysis of the Scapula*

“…To complement sex estimation, alternative methods involving elements other than the cranium and the pelvis should be devised. Recent inquiries have focused on determining sex from various elements of the skeleton, including the calcaneus (3)(4)(5)(6), clavicle (7), femur (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), humerus (10,12,15,16), metatarsals (17), patella (3,6), radius (10,12,15), ribs (18), scapula (7,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), talus (25)(26)(27), tibia (10,12,15,(28)(29)(30)(31), and ulna (10,12,15,31). It has been noted that the application of methods developed on one population have limited use on populations other than the original (2); hence, developing methods for many different skeletal elements based on different populations is required.…”