A new multivariate method for determining sex of immature human remains using the maxillary first molar

Christopher Aris · Pia Nystrom · Elizabeth Craig‐Atkins

16 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology

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Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Forensic and Genetic Research

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: ) to determine sex in adult and immature individuals within and between populations. METHODS: dimensions were measured in 91 adults (19-55 years) and 58 immatures (5-18 years) from two English populations, one of documented sex (Spitalfields crypt) and another of morphologically-assigned sex (Black Gate). Preliminary statistical analysis was undertaken to explore bilateral differences and variation by age and sex, followed by multivariate analyses to predict sex from dental metrics. RESULTS: Both cross-validated linear discriminant analysis and binary logistic regression predicted biological sex consistent with known sex in 94.6% of adults and 90.9% of immatures. When functions extracted from the Spitalfields data were used to assign sex to Black Gate adults, consistency with morphological sex varied from 83.3% to 57.7%. A new function developed on Black Gate resulted in only a 4.8% increase in maximum accuracy but reduced bias. The immature cohort comprised 19 (52.8%) males and 17 (47.2%) females. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates substantial sexual dimorphism in a single tooth which is commonly preserved in archaeological and forensic contexts. It successfully assigns biological sex to immatures from 5 years of age with substantially greater accuracy than any other morphological or metric method. We suggest that accurate cross-population functions based on dentition require a trade-off between accuracy and applicability, and that functions extracted from populations of documented sex can be used to assign sex to other archaeological and forensic remains.

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2020Enamel thickness and growth rates in modern human permanent first molars over a 2000 year period in Britain 2022A methodological comparison of discriminant function analysis and binary logistic regression for estimating sex in forensic research and case-work 2024Advancing sex estimation from amelogenin: Applications to archaeological, deciduous, and fragmentary dental enamel 2024How teeth can be used to estimate sexual dimorphism? A scoping review 2020Test of the auricular surface sex estimation method in fetuses and non-adults under 5 years old from the Lisbon and Granada Reference Collections

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