Abstract:
Forensic anthropologists frequently use measurements of the human skeleton to
determine sex and ancestry. Since the establishment of the Daubert criteria of
admissibility of scientific evidence to court, methodologies used by anthropologists came
under severe scrutiny. It is therefore important to ensure that the osteometric standards
that are used in skeletal analyses are clearly explained, repeatable and reliable. Adams
and Byrd (2002) found that measurements of the pelvis that originated from a point inside
the acetabulum could not be repeated accurately. The purpose of this paper was to use
three different sets of pubic and ischial measurements to establish whether they can be
repeated with high precision between four different observers, and also by the observers
themselves. Generally, high levels of repeatability were obtained, with intra-class
correlations (ICC) above 0.8. Pubic and ischial measurements using a point in the
acetabulum as origin performed the worst (ICC values of 0.82 and 0.79 respectively for
inter-observer repeatability), whereas other methods performed better with ICC values
above 0.9. It is advised that pubic and ischial measurements should be taken using the
origin of the iliac blade as landmark.
