Loth, Susan R.

Cranial and postcranial research on East and Southeast Asians has shown population variability between and within these two regions. Moreover, as populations vary by sex, sex differences vary by population. The purpose of this study is to provide the first descriptive and comparative analysis of two recently curated samples of complete, documented, contemporary skeletons from Thailand (N = 104) and Hong Kong (N = 94) that have not been previously studied. Sex differences reveal Hong Kong males and females as larger but less dimorphic than Thais. Stepwise discriminant function analysis of the Thai humerus and femur allowed 94%-96% sex classification accuracy. In conclusion, this research has increased our knowledge of sex and population differences in Asia and has important applications to demographic and medicolegal investigations.

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.