Premium
Accuracy and direction of error in the sexing of the skeleton: Implications for paleodemography
Author(s) -
Meindl Richard S.,
Lovejoy C. Owen,
Mensforth Robert P.,
Carlos Lydia Don
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330680108
Subject(s) - sexing , skull , statistics , forensic anthropology , mathematics , normalization (sociology) , bivariate analysis , orthodontics , anatomy , biology , medicine , geography , bioinformatics , archaeology , sociology , anthropology
Determinations of sex by subjective assessment of the skulls from a skeletal series of known sex were compared to fully independent assessments based on pelves of the same specimens. Within‐sex correlations of cranial and pelvic morphologies measured on an android‐gynecoid scale were smaller than expected. Subjective assessment by means of the skull compared favorably to that of the linear discriminant functions of Giles and Elliot; however, the direction of error was similar for both procedures. Of course, estimations based on the pelves were generally superior to both in terms of frequency and overall bias of error. The bias of sex estimation for paleodemographic purposes is contingent upon completeness of skeletal remains.