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Determination of Sex From Adult Human Ribs

NCJ Number
174205
Journal
Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: December 1996 Pages: 221-231
Author(s)
T L Dupras; S K Pfeiffer
Date Published
1996
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Data from 58 adult skeletons in Great Britain were used to examine the existence of sexual dimorphism at gross and histological levels in human ribs, to aid the gender identification of human remains.
Abstract
The study was prompted by recognition that highly dimorphic elements such as the pelvis and skull are often missing or damaged in unknown human remains. The sample consisted of 1 mid-thoracic rib from 31 females and 27 males ages 25-50 years from the skeletons excavated from the crypt (1729-1852 A.D.) of Christ Church in Spitalfields, East London, Great Britain. The funerary records of sex and age at death allowed for exceptional control of these variables. The measurements included minimum and maximum rib diameter, total area and cortical are, and the histological variables of total osteon area and total haversian area. The gross measures of the rib revealed high degrees of sexual dimorphism (female:male, 75:100), while the histological measures revealed no statistically significant differences between the sexes. Findings indicated that on the basis of gross morphological variables alone, males and females could be discriminated with 88 percent accuracy, while 84.6 percent of the test sample was classified correctly. Findings suggested that this method needs to be tested further on other historic and modern skeletal samples for forensic applicability. Figure, tables, and 31 references (Author abstract modified)