A revised method of sexing the human innominate using Phenice's nonmetric traits and statistical methods

Autor: Alexandra R. Klales, Jennifer Vollner, Stephen D. Ousley
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 149:104-114
ISSN: 0002-9483
Popis: The traits of the pubis described by Phe- nice (Am J Phys Anthropol 30 (1969) 297-302) have been used extensively by physical anthropologist for sex esti- mation. This study investigates all three of Phenice's characteristics in an approach similar to Walker's (Am J Phys Anthropol 136 (2008) 39-50) study using observa- tions from the cranium and mandible. The ventral arc, the subpubic contour, and the medial aspect of the ischio- pubic ramus were scored on a five-point ordinal scale from a sample of 310 adult, left innominates of known ancestry and sex from the Hamann-Todd Human Osteo- logical Collection and the W.M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. Four observers with varying levels of experi- ence blindly scored each trait using new descriptions and illustrations adapted from those originally created by Phenice. The scores were then analyzed with ordinal logistic regression. Using all three traits for sex classifica- tion, the mean correct classification rate was 94.5% cross- validated for experienced observers. Intra- and interob- server error in trait scoring was low for all three traits and agreement levels ranged from moderate to substan- tial. Tests of the method on an independent validation sample provided a classification accuracy of 86.2%. This revision of the Phenice (Am J Phys Anthropol 30 (1969) 297-302) technique is a reliable and valid method of sex estimation from the human innominate that meets the Daubert criteria for court admissibility. Am J Phys Anthropol 149:104-114, 2012. V C
Databáze: OpenAIRE