Metric Methods of Skeletal Sex Determination using the Arm Bones of Two British Medieval Populations

Abstract

Several studies have stated the importance of devising population-specific metric methods for sex determination. The long bones of the arm have been previously reported as having a high reliability. This paper explores the degree of sexual dimorphism in adult arm bones displayed in two Medieval British populations, one urban and one rural. The urban Gloucester population sample consists of 45 individuals (19 female and 26 male) and the rural Poulton sample of 27 individuals (13 female and 14 male) and were selected from collections housed at Liverpool John Moores University. Measurements of the proximal and distal epiphyses along with maximum length were used on the humerus, radius and ulna. These populations showed sexual dimorphism in every measurement taken. Discriminant function analysis found that all arm bones had very high discriminant accuracies in both populations reaching 91.2% (Gloucester radii) and 95.5% (Poulton radii). It was found that some of the values were significantly different between the populations supporting the necessity for population-specific metric standards.