Evaluating sexual dimorphism in the human mastoid process: A viewpoint on the methodology |
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| Authors: | Anja Petaros Sabrina B. Sholts Mario Slaus Alan Bosnar Sebastian K.T.S. Wärmländer |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistics, Rijeka University, School of Medicine, Rijeka, Croatia;2. Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia;3. Anthropological Center, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia;4. Division of Biophysics, Arrhenius Laboratories, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden;5. Division of Commercial and Business Law, IEI, Link?ping University, Link?ping, Sweden;6. The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA/Getty Conservation Programme, University of California in Los Angeles, California |
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| Abstract: | The mastoid process is one of the most sexually dimorphic features in the human skull, and is therefore often used to identify the sex of skeletons. Numerous techniques for assessing variation in the size and shape of the mastoid process have been proposed and implemented in osteological research, but its complex form still presents difficulties for consistent and effective analysis. In this article, we compare the different techniques and variables that have been used to define, measure, and visually score sexual dimorphism in the mastoid process. We argue that the current protocols fail to capture the full morphological range of this bony projection, and suggest ways of improving and standardizing them, regarding both traditional and 3D‐based approaches. Clin. Anat. 28:593–601, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
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| Keywords: | forensic anthropology mastoid process osteology sexual dimorphism standardization |
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