comparative analysis of the manifestations of age, sex, and race in the sternal extremity of the rib: A consideration of human skeletal variation

Systematic research on the sternal end of the rib has shown it to be a good site from which to observe and assess human variation in the adult skeleton. The purpose of this study is to analyze the manifestations of age, sex, race, and intercostal variation in the ribs of 136 turn of the century Blacks from the Terry Collection and compare them with samples of contemporary whites (N = 268) and Blacks (N = 89). Morphological analyses revealed pronounced differences between the sexes and races in the aging process. Osteometrically based findings of statistically significant sexual and racial dimorphism led to the development and testing of discriminant function formulae that can allow up to 90% classification accuracy by sex and 68% by race. In conclusion, this research underscores the need to account for sexual and racial differences in the development of demographic methods.