Estimating sex from the seven cervical vertebrae: An analysis of two European skeletal populations.

Methods for estimating sex from a variety of skeletal elements is vital in forensic anthropology as many of the traditionally studied bones are often fragmented upon recovery. The current study examined the seven cervical vertebrae to establish an accurate sex estimation method for Europeans. Discriminant functions were developed from the seven cervical vertebrae using the maximum body height (CHT), vertebral foramen anterior-posterior diameter (CAP), and vertebral foramen transverse diameter (CTR). To date, no study has used these variables to estimate sex from human remains. Two hundred and ninety-five adult individuals (157 males, 138 females) from the University of Athens and the Luis Lopes skeletal collections were studied. No population differences were exhibited between the contemporary Greek and historic Portuguese skeletons, indicating that discriminant functions for sex estimation from the cervical vertebrae may not be population- or temporally-specific. The results of this study indicate that only CHT and CTR exhibited statistically significant sexual dimorphism. Seven multivariate discriminant functions were developed with accuracy rates between 80.3% and 84.5%. Cross-validation studies showed that five of the seven functions exhibited strong statistical algorithms. This study will assist with estimating the sex of unknown Europeans from the cervical vertebrae especially in cases where more accurate predictors of sex, such as the skull or the pelvis, are unavailable.

Determination of sex from the patella in a contemporary Spanish population.

The skull and pelvis have been used for the determination of sex for unknown human remains. However, in forensic cases where skeletal remains often exhibit postmortem damage and taphonomic changes the patella may be used for the determination of sex as it is a preservationally favoured bone. The goal of the present research was to derive discriminant function equations from the patella for estimation of sex from a contemporary Spanish population. Six parameters were measured on 106 individuals (55 males and 51 females), ranging in age from 22 to 85 years old, from the Granada Osteological Collection. The statistical analyses showed that all variables were sexually dimorphic. Discriminant function score equations were generated for use in sex determination. The overall accuracy of sex classification ranged from 75.2% to 84.8% for the direct method and 75.5%-83.8% for the stepwise method. When the South African White discriminant functions were applied to the Spanish sample they showed high accuracy rates for sexing female patellae (90%-95.9%) and low accuracy rates for sexing male patellae (52.7%-58.2%). When the South African Black discriminant functions were applied to the Spanish sample they showed high accuracy rates for sexing male patellae (90.9%) and low accuracy rates for sexing female patellae (70%-75.5%). The patella was shown to be useful for sex determination in the contemporary Spanish population.