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Evaluations of sex assessment using weighted traits on incomplete skeletal remains
Author(s) -
Kjellström A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international journal of osteoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1099-1212
pISSN - 1047-482X
DOI - 10.1002/oa.720
Subject(s) - sexing , weighting , sexual dimorphism , biology , fragmentation (computing) , concordance , statistics , zoology , mathematics , ecology , medicine , bioinformatics , radiology
Several studies have presented a variety of sexually dimorphic traits on the skeleton offering possibilities to score these traits for sex determination. However, few have discussed how fragmentation of skeletons affects the reliability of the results, and how to assess sex attribution based on a variety of methods. In the present study sex was determined for 354 skeletons from the medieval Swedish town Sigtuna, using well‐recognized sexing techniques on the pelvis, skull and femur. The preservation of the skeletons varied markedly, thus affecting possibilities for sex assessments. An attempt was made to evaluate the result of the sex assessment when weighting of different traits with different scales was used. The resulting estimation for each individual was called total mean value A . In addition, a total mean value B that considers unobservable missing traits was estimated. It can be concluded that both weighting and fragmentation affect sex assessments of incomplete skeletons. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.