Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

TY  - JOUR
JO  - Anthropologie (Brno)
TI  - Craniofacial sexual dimorphism in two Portuguese skeletal samples
AU  - Humphries AL
AU  - Ross AH
Y1  - 2011
VL  - 49
IS  - 1
PB  - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic
SN  - 0323-1119
SP  - 13
EP  - 20
KW  - Craniometric variation
KW  - Sexual dimorphism
KW  - Index of sexual dimorphism
N2  - 
N2  - One of the goals of anthropological research is to investigate biological human variation of past and present populations. Of particular interest is the study of sexual dimorphism, which can shed light on the human condition and aid in the identification of unidentified remains. When dealing with human skeletal remains, one of the four pillars of the anthropological protocol is the estimation of sex. Problems arise when applying sexing methods to different populations. Consequently, a skeletally robust female may appear to be "male", particularly in light of cross-population comparisons. The purpose of this study is to evaluate sexual dimorphism of the craniofacial complex in two local Portuguese samples (Coimbra, F= 40, M=39; Lisbon, F=27, M=28). An index of sexual dimorphism or ISD was used to assess the level of sexual dimorphism within each sample (Lisbon ISD=3.71; Coimbra ISD=3.07). The Student's t-test indicates that the degree of sexual dimorphism is not significantly different between Coimbra and Lisbon (P=0.31). However, Mahalanobis distance, which was computed to examine differences among the groups, indicates that Lisbon females differ significantly from the other samples and the pattern of sexual dimorphism coincides with the ISD results. The disparity of the Lisbon females may indicate the possible influence of immigration or genetic diversity left behind by the numerous population influxes on the Iberian Peninsula and warrants further study.
ER  -