NCJ Number
222336
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 53 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 269-278
Date Published
March 2008
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study applied geometric morphometric methods to 25 ilia (1 of the 3 pelvic bones) from juvenile skeletons of known age at death and sex from Christ Church, Spitalfields (London), in order to determine the accuracy of such methods in determining sex.
Abstract
The findings indicate that the greater sciatic notch shape is the most useful criterion in determining the sex of juveniles from the ilium. Ninety-sex percent of juvenile ilia were correctly identified as male or female using the shape of the greater sciatic notch. Males were identified to a higher accuracy than females. The curvature of the iliac crest exhibited a relationship with sample age such that "typical male" shape and "typical female" shape diverge after 0.5 years of age. Previous hypotheses regarding the use of the greater sciatic notch angle for sex determination are supported by the statistically significant difference between male and female sciatic notch angle measurements made in this study; however, given the morphological and metric variation that exists between and within human populations, this report advises caution when attempting to use the techniques of this study on a different population. The discriminant functions and accuracy calculations generated in this study are unique to the population of Christ Church, Spitalfields, and are therefore inherently limited. Nevertheless, the results obtained in the current study demonstrate the potential for improvement upon previous more qualitative and indirect approaches for sex determination from juvenile bones. If developed further, such an approach could prove useful for palaeo-demographic studies and the identification of the sex of children in forensic cases. Further research with these techniques using a different population should evaluate the general applicability of the methods used in this study. Materials and methods are described in detail. 8 tables, 9 figures, and 30 references