Brief communication: A study of the predictive accuracy of mandibular ramus flexure as a singular morphologic indicator of sex in an archaeological sample

✍ Scribed by Haun, Susan Jones

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 83 KB
• Volume: 111
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(200003)111:3<429::aid-ajpa9>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

assert that they have discovered a single morphologic indicator of sexual dimorphism in the human mandible that rivals the predictive accuracy of the complete pelvis at 94.2% for all samples (99% for healthy samples). To test the accuracy of their method, mandibles (n ϭ 150) from the Tepe Hissar collection were assessed for the presence or absence of mandibular ramus flexure. These results were then compared to a separate sex assessment based on morphologic indicators from the corresponding skull and innominates (where possible) to yield an overall accuracy of only 78.2%. As a means of independent assessment, the mandibular results were also compared with Krogman's ([1940] Racial Types from Tepe Hessar, Iran, from late fifth to early second millennium, BC. Amsterdam: Koninkliijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen) assessment of sex based on craniofacial measurements and morphologic indicators from the skull. This comparison produced an even lower accuracy of 67.2%. Such results question the predictive potential of mandibular ramus flexure as a single indicator of sexual dimorphism and suggest caution when applying this method, especially in the case of fragmentary forensic and fossil remains.