title: Sex determination from the calcaneus in a 20th century Greek population using discriminant function analysis.
abstract: The skull and post-cranium have been used for the determination of sex for unknown human remains. However, in forensic cases where skeletal remains often exhibit postmortem damage and taphonomic changes the calcaneus may be used for the determination of sex as it is a preservationally favored bone. The goal of the present research was to derive discriminant function equations from the calcaneus for estimation of sex from a contemporary Greek population. Nine parameters were measured on 198 individuals (103 males and 95 females), ranging in age from 20 to 99 years old, from the University of Athens Human Skeletal Reference Collection. The statistical analyses showed that all variables were sexually dimorphic. Discriminant function score equations were generated for use in sex determination. The average accuracy of sex classification ranged from 70% to 90% for the univariate analysis, 82.9% to 87.5% for the direct method, and 86.2% for the stepwise method. Comparisons to other populations were made. Overall, the cross-validated accuracies ranged from 48.6% to 56.1% with males most often identified correctly and females most often misidentified. The calcaneus was shown to be useful for sex determination in the twentieth century Greek population.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Sciences Program, Department of Anthropology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada. Electronic address: tanya.peckmann@smu.ca.
authors.forename: Tanya R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Peckmann
authors.affiliation: Forensic Sciences Program, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada. Electronic address: orrkayla17@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kayla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Orr
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada. Electronic address: susan.meek@smu.ca.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meek
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Human Physiology, Faculty of Biology, School of Sciences, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, GR 157 01, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: smanol@biol.uoa.gr.
authors.forename: Sotiris K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Manolis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002111:Calcaneus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006115:Greece; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054881:Sex Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adults; Calcaneus; Discriminant functions; Forensic anthropology population data; Greece; Sex determination