Forearm bones and sexual variation in Turkish population.

Forensic anthropologists are aware that there are considerable differences between human populations and therefore develop study models for each skeletal population. The purpose of this study was to analyze forearm bones obtained from forensic settings in Turkey. The sample consists of 42 males and 38 females with an average age of 40 and 36 years, respectively. Numerous measurements were taken from the radius and ulna including lengths (in millimeters), midshaft diameters, and epiphyseal breadths (0.01 mm). Individuals with any anomaly and pathology were not included in the investigation. A stepwise analysis, when applied to individual bones, selected only length and midshaft transverse dimension in the radius and length only in the ulna. When the length was excluded from the statistic, head diameter and distal breadth of the radius and distal minimum head and midshaft anteroposterior diameters of the ulna provided the best predicting functions. Classification results were 92% for the radius and 91% for the ulna. For the incomplete bones, the accuracy rates were about 92% and 83%, respectively. In conclusion, a sex determination was made, in different rates of accuracy, in the human skeleton. Correct assessment can vary among populations. Dimorphism in our region forearm bones is greater than American whites. This supported the hypothesis that human variation is diverse, and population difference should be taken into account when osteometric standards are applied to others. Further studies are needed to understand why the forearm is more dimorphic in Turks.

Craniometric analysis of the modern Cretan population.

Despite the fact that sex assessment using craniofacial characteristics is commonly made worldwide, a lack of such investigation is noted in the Balkan area and in Greece in particular. The aim of this study is to develop a sex determination technique using osteometric data from skeletal remains of a contemporary Cretan cemetery population. A total of 90 males and 88 females are measured according to standard osteometric techniques. Age differences are not significant (mean age for men=68.94+/-13.41, N=66; for women=73.21+/-16.77, N=66). A total of 16 dimensions taken from the craniofacial skeleton are used and data are analyzed using SPSS subroutines. A comparison is made with other contemporary populations, including Americans (Terry collection) and South Africans (Dart and Pretoria collections), as well as an archaeological sample (Middle and Late Helladic) from Crete. Results indicate that males are statistically significantly greater than females in all dimensions. Bizygomatic breadth is the most discriminatory single dimension and can provide an accuracy rate of 82% on average. Using a stepwise method involving five dimensions (bizygomatic breadth, cranial length, nasion-prosthion and mastoid height and nasal breadth), accuracy is raised to 88.2%. Interestingly, cranial length is selected as the first discriminating variable by the stepwise analysis when only the neurocranium is available for measurement.

Sexual differences in Turkish dentition.

Sexual variation in the human skeleton and dentition is of great concern for both anthropologists and odontologists. Assessment of variation in dental size gives a clue about the behavior of a population, and also differences between the sexes. This study deals with sexual differences in a Turkish sample of individuals ranging in age from 20 to 29 years. The sample is composed of 28 buccolingual (BL) and mesiodistal (MD) dimensions of upper and lower dentition (I1 through M2). Dental casts of 50 males and 50 females were analyzed using discriminant function statistics. The results indicated that 8 of the upper and 7 of the lower dimensions were significantly greater in males. Many of the differences were located in the anterior teeth of both jaws. In a stepwise function applied to both arches, the lower and upper canine BL, lower canine and P1 MD, and lower I2 BL were used as the most discriminating variables. When the front teeth (i.e., I1, I2, and C) are used in separate functions, only the canine BL of the lower jaw and I2 and C BL of the upper jaw were found to have the discriminating variables. Classification accuracy was 81% for the total sample, 76% for upper front and 81% for lower front teeth. In conclusion, dentition in Turkish people seems to be less sexually dimorphic than the populations with which they were compared (Jordanians, Swedish and South Africans) as was determined by the percent of accuracy obtained. In comparison with other populations, as anticipated, Turkish dental size is closest to the Jordanian sample and farthest from the South African whites.

Victim of a dictatorial regime: identification of Mr. Roberto Gomensoro Josman.

Forensic cases are ideal to test osteological techniques developed by physical anthropologists. Forensic anthropology is a scientific discipline that applies population-based standards to individual skeletal remains. Many complex techniques are used in an attempt to make a positive identification. Several of these techniques, specifically digital video superimposition and DNA, were used to identify the victim in this case. The purpose of this paper is to describe anthropological techniques used to identify the remains of an unknown person who was later identified as Mr. Roberto Gomensoro Josman, the victim of a Uruguayan dictatorial regime. Mr. Gomensoro Josman disappeared after authorities of the Uruguayan dictatorial government (1973-1984) arrested him. Six days later an unknown body was found floating in Lake Rincon del Bonete. The corpse was found tied with wire and weighted with three large stones used to keep the body submerged. An autopsy was performed and the body was buried as an unknown person in the grave identified as number 10936 of Tacuarembo Cemetery. On December 2002 the Peace and Justice Service asked the local judge to authorize the exhumation of the remains. The exhumed body was headless. An investigation revealed that the local medical examiner who had autopsied the remains on March 1973 had retained the victim's skull in his office. Osteological analysis indicated the victim was a white male in his 20s. Four good quality photographs of Mr. Gomensoro who was known to be missing were compared with the skull. To confirm the identification from the video a DNA analysis was carried out comparing the victim with relatives. DNA typing confirmed the results of the earlier identification.

Sexual variation in bucco-lingual dimensions in Turkish dentition.

Sexual differences in the human skeleton have been well studied in many populations. Odontometric analysis of the human sexual variation has been less investigated and mostly derived from the dentition of extinct populations. Turkey is situated in a unique location where populations from different regions mixed with each other and created a rich gene pool. One might anticipate that modern Turkish population is composed of genes from the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Iran and further as well as from ancient Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Asiatic Turks. It is clear that contemporary Turks are a mixture of these extant and extinct people and ideal to consider it a representative study population. The purpose of this study is to analyze dental dimensions and sexual variation in living Turks and develop forensic techniques to identify human remains from the teeth when any other technique is not available or not reliable. The study is composed of Ankara University dental students (50 male and 50 female casts, average age of 21 years). Bucco-lingual breadths from 14 teeth (I1 through M2 of the maxilla and mandible) are taken from the left side and analyzed using the discriminant function statistics. An intraobserver error test did not indicate any statistically significant difference between any two measurements. Results of the study revealed that males exceeded females significantly (P<0.001) in dimensions. Coefficient of variation was most obvious in I1s and I2s of both jaws in both sexes. Stepwise discriminant function statistics suggested that upper C, and lower C and M2 are the most contributory teeth to the function. Additional formulae were calculated for situation in which only one or a fragmented jaw is available for identification. Overall accuracy of sex diagnosis ranged from 73 to 77%. In conclusion this research supports earlier studies that sexual dimorphism is population specific. While dental difference between the sexes in several human populations has been found highly dimorphic, it was not found so in Turks and accuracy of classification remained low at about 77%. The difficulty or the lack of dimorphism comes from male subjects.

Assessment of enamel hypoplasia in a high status burial site.

Social differentiation is a characteristic of all societies, and higher social status is often associated with better nutrition and good health. Traditional archeologically inferred social status has been linked with biological evidence such as skeletal robusticity and the incidence of disease. In this regard, linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is considered a good indicator of health, and individuals with a high status should, at least in theory, not suffer from severe defects. In order to test this hypothesis, the prevalence and occurrence of LEH were assessed in a skeletal sample at the Fort Center, Florida, site. Located near Lake Okeechobee, this site was occupied from about A.D. 200-800, and was considered a mortuary ceremonial center. These archeological findings suggested that individuals buried there belonged to a high class and merited special mortuary rituals. Although 1,835 teeth were found, only 679 maxillary and 393 mandibular teeth were analyzed. The upper I1 and lower C are reported to be most representative for LEH, and were thus selected for further analysis. There were 45 left incisors and 48 left canines. Results indicated that about 95% of incisors and 98% of canines were affected. The occurrence of severe hypoplastic lines was much lower (between 30% and 40%). The minimum number of defects affecting the canine surpassed three, thus showing evidence of repeated stress during childhood. Hypoplasia was first observed between the ages of 1.0 and 1.5 years for incisors and between 2.0 and 2.5 years for canines. Severe defects were first noted to occur at 2.5-3.0 years of age for incisors and 3.0-3.5 years for canines. In conclusion, the high frequency of LEH in this socially elite population seems to prove that in prehistory even privileged classes were severely subjected to stress and the social stratification alone was not sufficient to buffer them from rigorous environments. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 9:213-222, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Sexual dimorphism in modern Japanese crania.

The Japanese population has gone through significant micro-evolutionary changes during the last half century. One approach to quantify these changes is an osteometric analysis of sexual variation in the skeleton. The present study evaluates sexual dimorphism in modern Japanese cranial dimensions. Comprehensive osteometric data were obtained from 84 modern Japanese skeletons of known sex and age at death from the dissecting room collection at Jikei Medical University, Tokyo. The remains were macerated between 1960 and 1970 and thus are from individuals who lived through World War II. A total of 16 cranial dimensions were subjected to SPSS-X discriminant function analysis. Using 11 measurements of the cranium, five dimensions were selected by the stepwise discriminant methods, including bigonial breadth. In a second stepwise function using 11 cranial measurements, seven contributed to the function. In both functions, mastoid height was selected first and prediction accuracy averaged 84%. Because of its significant contribution, a function was calculated from mastoid height alone. This produced an average of 74% prediction accuracy. In general, width dimensions better reflected differences between the sexes. The accuracy of correct classification from the Jikei sample was slightly lower than those of earlier Japanese populations. The results of this study also suggested that sexual dimorphism in Japanese crania may have decreased as a result of an increase in size of females. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The aging process in the rib: An analysis of sex- and race-related morphological variation.

One of the most important paleodemographic and forensic determinations is age at death from the adult skeleton. Techniques now in use vary from direct observation of a bone to microscopic examination of a given segment. Yet since the 1920s, only a few parts of the skeleton have been focused upon for this assessment. It was not until the 1980s that a method from a new site, the sternal end of the rib, was introduced. The rib studies were based on a sample of recent medical examiner's cases including bones from over 300 American Whites and Blacks of both sexes. All specimens came from individuals of documented age, sex and race. The ribs were first separated by sex and race then assigned to one of nine phases (0-8) based on the progression of changes observed at the constochondral junction. These included the formation of a pit, its depth and shape, configuration of the walls and rim surrounding it, and the overall texture and quality of the bone. Statistical analysis indicated that the morphological characteristics defining the phases were age related. There also were significant differences in the rate and pattern of metamorphosis by sex and race. The White male and female phase standards were blind tested and found to be easy to apply with little interobserver error between groups of judges divided by levels of education and experience. A comparison of age assessments from ribs and public symphyses from the same individuals revealed that twice as many ribs as symphyses were correctly phased. As with all skeletal methods there are some concerns with factors such as intraskeletal (in this case intercostal) variation, population specificity, and archaeological perservation. However, the rib phase technique can provide a more consistently accurate estimation of age within a narrower range than most other age assessment methods available today.