Sexual dimorphism in the robusticity of long bones of infants and young children
Date
2002
Authors
Coussens, A.
Anson, T.
Norris, R.
Henneberg, M.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Anthropological Review, 2002; 65:3-16
Statement of Responsibility
Anna Coussens, Tim Anson, Rachel M. Norris, Maciej Henneberg
Conference Name
Abstract
It is difficult to determine the sex of subadult skeletal remains because there is little sexual dimorphism present pre-pubertally. In a historic sample of 24 children aged 0-4 years from St. Mary s Anglican Church, Marion, South Australia, the robustness of femora and of humeri was correlated with sexually dimorphic mandibular morphology. Ratios of midshaft circumference to diaphyseal length of humeri and femora and the ratio of minimum circumference to diaphyseal length of the humerus showed correlation with sex determined by mandibular morphology, male indices being greater than the female ones. The humerus midshaft circumference index showed the greatest difference between sexes (P value=0.0002). The results need confirmation on known-sex skeletal remains, but for the moment this