Sex Assessment on the Basis of Fragmentary Crania of the Medieval Japanese

Nagaoka Tomohito, Hirata Kazuaki

doi:10.1537/asj.113.17

Thousands of skeletons were excavated from the archaeological sites in Yuigahama area, Kamakura, Japan. Many skeletons were composed of fragmentary crania. The discriminant function analysis was useful in the sex assessment of these crania, but the discriminant functions described in the precedent studies by Hanihara (1959, 1981) and Tanaka et al. (1979) can not be applied to the medieval crania. This is because, first, the precedent functions were calculated based on well-preserved crania of modern Japanese and were not applicable to poorly-preserved crania of the medieval period. Second, the morphological features of the medieval crania were different from those of the modern crania, in that dolichocephaly, chameprosopy and prognathism were pronounced in the medieval crania. Then, it is possible that these features of the medieval crania have an influence on the accurate classification of sex.<br> The present study made discriminant function analysis using fragmentary parts of medieval Japanese crania. Among the functions obtained, the one based on just one measurement, mastoid process length, achieved the accuracy of higher than 80%. When functions are produced by using more than one measurement item, they can achieve better classification. The functions presented here are applicable to the sex determination of fragmentary crania and will be of great use in the research of medieval skeletons.<br>

Sex Assessment on the Basis of Fragmentary Crania of the Medieval Japanese

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