Abstract
The lateral angle method of sex estimation is tested on an archaeological population with genetic sex estimates. Casts of the internal auditory canal were made using a quick drying impression material on 90 individuals (76 adults and 14 nonadults) from Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Cambridgeshire. The anterior and posterior angles of the internal auditory canal were measured, and the relationship of the angle to genetic sex was tested. The posterior angle failed intra-observer error tests, and only the anterior angle could be analysed. Using the previously published sectioning point for unburnt remains (45°), the method did not adequately distinguish between the sexes. Furthermore, the difference between male and female was insufficient to create population-specific discriminant functions. The anterior angle does not meet the requirements for an osteological method of sex estimation, exhibiting no statistical correlation with genetic sex in this population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 445-457 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Archaeometry |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 26 Oct 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 26 Oct 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by the Wellcome Trust ‘After the Plague: Health and History in Medieval Cambridge’ Project (Award No. 2000368/Z/15/Z) and the European Union through the European Research Council Advanced Grant ‘Making Ancestors: The Politics of Death in European Prehistory’ (Award No. 885137).
© 2023 The Authors.
Keywords
- ancient DNA
- genetic sex
- internal auditory canal
- intraobserver reliability
- lateral angle
- method accuracy
- sex estimation