Nonmetric sex determination from the distal and posterior humerus in black and white South Africans

Abstract

The successful identification of human skeletal remains relies on proven diagnostic techniques for sex determination. This research utilized 608 individuals from South Africa (420 males, 188 females) to conduct a blind non-metric determination of sex from three features of the distal humerus; olecranon fossa shape, angle of the medial epicondyle, and trochlear extention. A scoring system between males and females was implemented, and the aggregate score of the three features determined the estimated sex of the skeletal element in question. With all features combined, black and white South Africans were categorized successfully as either male or female 75.5% (77% accuracy rate for females, 74% accuracy rate for males). This classification rate is lower than what was found in previous studies, but suggests that characteristics of the distal humerus are still quite valuable when estimating skeletal sex. More research is needed to assess reasons for the differential expression of these traits in different populations, and to determine if the method is non-population-specific.