Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sex determination from the foramen magnum: discriminant function analysis in an eighteenth and nineteenth century British sample

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Legal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The successful identification of the deceased is vital to the progress of any forensic investigation. One of the principal biological traits to be established from skeletal remains is the sex of the individual. This becomes more difficult if only parts of a skeleton are found or if the bones are compromised by physical insults such as fire, explosions or violence. The basal region of the occipital bone is covered by a large volume of soft tissue and is therefore in a relatively well-protected anatomical position, and as such, classification of sex using the occipital bone may prove useful in cases of significantly disrupted remains. The aim of this paper is to evaluate manually recorded morphometric variables of the region of the foramen magnum using both discriminant function analysis and linear regression. The skulls utilised in this study were selected from the eighteenth to nineteenth century documented skeletal collection of St. Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London. Adult human skulls n = 158 (♂82/♀76) were measured to derive statistical functions. The results demonstrated that significant sexual dimorphism is present in the cranial base of the St. Bride’s material. The correctly classified crania within this population ranged from 65.8% for univariate functions to 70.3% for multivariate functions within the cranial sample. Males were correctly classified at 70.7% and females at 69.7% using multivariate functions. The linear regression equations predicted sex in the cranial sample correctly for 76% of the males and 70% for the females using different variables; however, overall highest correct prediction percentage was only 68%. Cross-validation brought the percentage down in some cases, but it was concluded that, overall, the expression of sexual dimorphism in the foramen magnum region within the St. Bride’s population is significantly demonstrable, and therefore, this area of the skull should be considered useful in the identification of sex.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Brinkmann B (2007) Forensic anthropology. Int J Legal Med 121:431–432

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Catalina-Herrera CJ (1987) Study of the anatomic metric values of the foramen magnum and its relation to sex. Acta Anat 130:344–347

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fisher RA (1936) The use of multiple measurements in taxonomic problems. Ann Eugen 7:179–188

    Google Scholar 

  4. Franklin D, Freedman L, Milne N (2005) Sexual dimorphism and discriminant function sexing in indigenous South African crania. Homo 55:213–228

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gapert R, Last J (2005) The adult human occipital bone: measurement variance and observer error. In: Zakrzewski SR, Clegg M (eds) Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. BAR International Series. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp 119–122

    Google Scholar 

  6. Giles E (1964) Sex determination by discriminant function analysis of the mandible. Am J Phys Anthropol 22:129–136

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Giles E, Elliot O (1963) Sex determination by discriminant function analysis of crania. Am J Phys Anthropol 21:53–68

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Graw M (2001) Morphometrische und morphognostische Geschlechtsdiagnostik an der menschlichen Schädelbasis. In: Oehmichen M, Geserick G (eds) Osteologische Identifikation und Altersschätzung. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck, pp 103–121

    Google Scholar 

  9. Günay Y, Altinkök M (2000) The value of the size of foramen magnum in sex determination. J Clin Forensic Med 7:147–149

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hamilton ME (1982) Sexual dimorphism in skeletal samples. In: Hall RL (ed) Sexual dimorphism in homo sapiens—a question of size. Praeger Publishers, New York, pp 107–163

    Google Scholar 

  11. Henke W (1972) Zur Methode der diskriminanzanalytischen Geschlechtsbestimmung am Schädel. Homo 24:99–117

    Google Scholar 

  12. Henke W (1977) On the method of discriminant function analysis for sex determination of the skull. J Hum Evol 6:95–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hermann B, Grupe G, Hummel S, Piepenbrink H, Schutkowski H (1990) Prähistorische Anthropologie—Leitfaden der Feld- und Labormethoden. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  14. Holland TD (1986) Sex determination of fragmentary crania by analysis of the cranial base. Am J Phys Anthropol 70:203–208

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Kajanoja P (1969) Sex determination of Finnish crania by discriminant function analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol 24:29–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Keen JA (1950) A Study of the differences between male and female skulls. Am J Phys Anthropol 8:65–78

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Knussmann R (1996) Vergleichende Biologie des Menschen—Lehrbuch der Anthropologie und Humangenetik, 2. Auflage. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  18. Krogman WM (1978) The human skeleton in forensic medicine, 3rd Printing. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL

    Google Scholar 

  19. Marino EA (1995) Sex estimation using the first cervical vertebra. Am J Phys Anthropol 97:127–133

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Mays S, Cox M (2002) Sex determination in skeletal remains. In: Cox M, Mays S (eds) Human osteology in archaeology and forensic science. Greenwich Medical Media, London, pp 117–130

    Google Scholar 

  21. Murshed KA, Cicekcibasi AE, Tuncer I (2003) Morphometric evaluation of the foramen magnum and variations in its shape: a study on computerized tomographic images of normal adults. Turk J Med Sci 33:301–306

    Google Scholar 

  22. Pötsch-Schneider L, Endris R, Schmidt H (1985) Diskriminanzanalyse zur Geschlechtsbestimmung an Unterkieferknochen. Z Rechtsmed 94:21–30

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Ramsthaler F, Kreutz K, Verhoff MA (2007) Accuracy of metric sex analysis of skeletal remains using Fordisc® based on a recent skull collection. Int J Legal Med 121:477–482

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Rösing FW, Graw M, Marré B, Ritz-Timme S, Rothschild MA, Rötzscher K, Schmeling A, Schröder I, Geserick G (2007) Recommendations for the forensic diagnosis of sex and age from skeletons. Homo 58:75–89

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rösing FW, Paul G, Schnutenhaus S (1995) Sexing skeletons by tooth size. In: Radlanski RJ, Renz RJ (eds) Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Dental Morphology, Berlin. M-Marketing Services, Berlin, pp 373–376

    Google Scholar 

  26. Routal RR, Pal GP, Bhagwat SS, Tamankar BP (1984) Metrical studies with sexual dimorphism in foramen magnum of human crania. J Anat Soc India 2(33):85–89

    Google Scholar 

  27. Saunders SR, Yang D (1999) Sex determination: XX or XY from the human skeleton. In: Fairgrieve SI (ed) Forensic osteological analysis. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL, pp 36–59

    Google Scholar 

  28. Scheuer L, Black S (2000) Developmental juvenile osteology. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  29. Scheuer L, Black S (2004) The juvenile skeleton. Elsevier, London

    Google Scholar 

  30. Stewart TD (1979) Essentials of forensic anthropology—especially as developed in the United States. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL

    Google Scholar 

  31. Teixeira WRG (1982) Sex identification utilizing the size of the foramen magnum. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 3(3):203–206

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Ubelaker DH, Ross AH, Graver SM (2002) Application of forensic discriminant functions to a spanish cranial sample. Forensic Sci Commun 4. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2002/ubelaker1.htm. Cited 28 January 2008

  33. Uysal SRM, Gokharman D, Kacar M, Tuncbilek I, Kosar U (2005) Estimation of sex by 3D CT measurements of the foramen magnum. J Forensic Sci 50:1310–1314

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Wahl J, Graw M (2001) Metric sex differentiation of the pars petrosa ossis temporalis. Int J Legal Med 114:215–223

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Westcott DJ (2000) Sex variation in the second cervical vertebra. J Forensic Sci 45:462–466

    Google Scholar 

  36. Westcott D, Moore-Jansen P (2001) Metric variation in the human occipital bone: forensic anthropological applications. J Forensic Sci 5(46):1159–1163

    Google Scholar 

  37. Williams MM (1987) Sex determination of fragmentary crania by analysis of the cranial base: applications for the study of an Arikara skeletal sample. Thesis, University of Tennessee

Download references

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the staff at St. Bride’s Church for their gracious hospitality and immense help in obtaining the results presented in this paper—Canon David Meara, James Irving, Matthew Busby, Claire Seaton, David Smith and Bob Drakes. Thanks are also expressed to Professor John Bannigan, University College Dublin, Ireland, for encouraging this research; Professor Louise Scheuer, University of Dundee, UK, for her very helpful comments and a catalogue of the St. Bride’s skeletal remains; and Professor Friedrich W. Rösing, University of Ulm, Germany, for his comments on the occipital bone. Many thanks also to the staff at University College Dublin, Ireland, for their help and patience. Special thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, Health Sciences Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    René Gapert & Jason Last

  2. Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland

    Sue Black

Authors
  1. René Gapert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sue Black
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jason Last
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to René Gapert.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gapert, R., Black, S. & Last, J. Sex determination from the foramen magnum: discriminant function analysis in an eighteenth and nineteenth century British sample. Int J Legal Med 123, 25–33 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-008-0256-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-008-0256-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation