Sex determination in skeletal remains from the medieval Eastern Adriatic coast - discriminant function analysis of humeri

Aim To investigate the usefulness of humerus measurement for sex determination in a sample of medieval skeletons from the Eastern Adriatic Coast. Additional aim was to compare the results with contemporary female population. Methods Five humerus measurements (maximum length, epicondylar width, maximum vertical diameter of the head, maximum and minimum diameter of the humerus at mid-shaft) for 80 male and 35 female medieval and 19 female contemporary humeri were recorded. Only sufficiently preserved skeletons and those with no obvious pathological or traumatic changes that could affect the measurements were included. For ten samples, analysis of DNA was performed in order to determine sex using amelogenin. Results The initial comparison of men and women indicated significant differences in all five measures (P < 0.001). Discriminant function for sex determination indicated that as much as 85% of cases could be properly categorized, with better results in men (86%) than women (80%). Furthermore, the comparison of the medieval and contemporary women did not show significant difference in any of the measured features. Sex results obtained by anthropological and DNA analysis matched in all 10 cases. Conclusion The results indicate that humerus measurement in Croatian medieval population may be sufficient to determine the sex of the skeleton. Furthermore, it seems that secular changes have not substantially affected contemporary population, suggesting that the results of this study are transferable to contemporary population as well.