A MODEL FOR SEX ESTIMATION OF HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS UTILIZING TOOTH AND SPACING METRICS FROM CANINES AND FIRST MOLARS

Abstract

Physical anthropologists create biological profiles using skeletal remains to estimate age, sex, ancestry, and stature. Teeth are frequently present in complete and fragmentary skeletal remains and are known to display sexually dimorphic traits. The mandibular canines have been repeatedly shown to be the most sexually dimorphic teeth. This study explored combinations of dental metrics from mandibular canines, maxillary first molars, and mandibular first molars. In addition, novel measurements from canine-to-canine and molar-to-molar were incorporated into model development. Teeth from seventy-three known-sex individuals from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection were measured. Individual measurements were analyzed for symmetry and sex-related differences, and Fordisc 3.0 was used to determine the best model of combined metrics for estimating sex. These results confirmed that mandibular canines are highly sexually dimorphic. The optimum combined model used measurements of mandibular canines and identified sex of individuals as male or female with 86.2% accuracy.