Sex determination using mastoid process measurements: standards for Japanese human skeletons of the medieval and early modern periods

Nagaoka, Tomohito; Shizushima, Akio; Sawada, Junmei; Tomo, Soichiro; Hoshino, Keigo; Sato, Hidemitsu; Hirata, Kazuaki

doi:10.1537/ase.070605

Cited by 44 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The approximate range of measurements where sex is estimated with a posterior probability higher than 0.8 (80 %) is emphasized with a light grey (females) and dark grey (males) background within the range of (if not higher than) selected published research using established single traditional linear measurements (e.g. South African White-80.2 % [28], South African Black-78 % [5], Cretan-81.9 % [29], Japanese-84.6 % [30]). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of traditional and geometric morphometric analyses for forensic quantification of sexual dimorphism: preliminary investigations in a Western Australian population

et al. 2012

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A current limitation of forensic practice in Western Australia is a lack of contemporary population-specific standards for biological profiling; this directly relates to the unavailability of documented human skeletal collections. With rapidly advancing technology, however, it is now possible to acquire accurate skeletal measurements from 3D scans contained in medical databases. The purpose of the present study, therefore, is to explore the accuracy of using cranial form to predict sex in adult Australians. Both traditional and geometric morphometric methods are applied to data derived from 3D landmarks acquired in CT-reconstructed crania. The sample comprises multi-detector computed tomography scans of 200 adult individuals; following 3D volume rendering, 46 anatomical landmarks are acquired using OsiriX (version 3.9). Centroid size and shape (first 20 PCs of the Procrustes coordinates) and the inter-landmark (ILD) distances between all possible pairs of landmarks are then calculated. Sex classification effectiveness of the 3D multivariate descriptors of size and shape and selected ILD measurements are assessed and compared; robustness of findings is explored using resampling statistics. Cranial shape and size and the ILD measurements are sexually dimorphic and explain 3.2 to 54.3 % of sample variance; sex classification accuracy is 83.5-88.0 %. Sex estimation using 3D shape appears to have some advantages compared to approaches using size measurements. We have, however, identified a simple and biologically meaningful single non-traditional linear measurement (glabella-zygion) that classifies Western Australian individuals according to sex with a high degree of expected accuracy (87.5-88 %).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of traditional and geometric morphometric analyses for forensic quantification of sexual dimorphism: preliminary investigations in a Western Australian population

et al. 2012

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“…The individuals lacking pelvic bones were sexually determined by cranial features that include the supraorbital ridge, frontal tuberosity, mastoid process, and exterior occipital prominence (White and Folkens, 2000;Nagaoka et al, 2008).…”

Section: Sex Determination and Age-at-death Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for weapon-related traumas in medieval Japan: observations of the human crania from Seiyokan

Nagaoka

Uzawa

Hirata

2010

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The Seiyokan site is located in Kamakura, Japan, and has yielded 91 human skeletons belonging to the 14-15th centuries AD. The purposes of this study are to examine the human crania from the archeological site at Seiyokan, to analyze the presence, distribution, and variability of their weaponrelated traumas, and finally to better understand violence in medieval Japan from osteological evidence. The results demonstrate that the traumas on the crania have morphological features consistent with human-induced cut marks. The presence of cut marks on the Seiyokan crania, which strongly suggests the prevalence of violence in medieval Japan, is in accord with the historical background-that a militarily organized society was founded by force and that the rise to political power of the warrior class and the establishment of a military government resulted in continuous disturbances, armed conflicts, and violent death.

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“…However, the age-at-death of individuals lacking teeth is difficult to estimate. Sex determination is based both on the discriminant function method using mastoid process measurements (Nagaoka et al 2008) and on macroscopic observational methods (Krogman and Iscan 1986).…”

Section: Age and Sex Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weapon-related traumas of human skeletons from Yuigahama Chusei Shudan Bochi, Japan

2009

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The Yuigahama Chusei Shudan Bochi site (AD: twelfth to thirteenth centuries), located along the seashore of the southern end of Kamakura City in Japan, and has yielded a mass grave containing hundreds of human crania. The purpose of this study is to document cut marks on crania made by an edged weapon, paying specific attention to individuals who may exhibit scratch marks, and to understand the variability of weapon-related traumas in the medieval period in Japan. The observation leads to tentative findings regarding the identification and interpretation of weapon-related traumas of human skeletal remains. From macroscopic observation, the marks display the sharpness of cut surfaces which are characteristic of unhealed cut marks. Scanning electron microscopic observation of the marks also shows that they are V-shaped in cross-section, a morphological feature that is characteristic of cut marks. This study first demonstrates that the scratches on the crania have morphological features consistent with human-induced cut marks, and that the macroscopic and microscopic approaches provide important information for identifying anthropogenic cut marks on the human skeletal remains from an archaeological site in Japan.

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Sex determination using mastoid process measurements: standards for Japanese human skeletons of the medieval and early modern periods

Cited by 44 publications

References 20 publications

The application of traditional and geometric morphometric analyses for forensic quantification of sexual dimorphism: preliminary investigations in a Western Australian population

The application of traditional and geometric morphometric analyses for forensic quantification of sexual dimorphism: preliminary investigations in a Western Australian population

Evidence for weapon-related traumas in medieval Japan: observations of the human crania from Seiyokan

Weapon-related traumas of human skeletons from Yuigahama Chusei Shudan Bochi, Japan

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