Forensic osteology

Diagnosing the sex of subadult skeletal material is a difficult task for bioarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists. Metric and nonmetric techniques have been tested utilizing both fetal (Boucher 1957, Weaver 1980) and juvenile (Loth and Henneberg 2001, Weaver 1980) skeletal remains. Some metric techniques show promise in estimating the sex of juvenile skeletons, but most are found to be lacking in adequate accuracies (Holcomb and Konigsberg 1995, Weaver 1980). Nonmetric techniques have been found to be more accurate, performing better than chance (Loth and Henneberg 2001, Mittler and Sheridan 1992, Weaver 1980). This study adds to this conversation, utilizing the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, testing the accuracy of eight nonmetric traits of the subadult mandible and ilium for use in forensic investigations and bioarchaeological research.

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.