Methods

In this section we present an annotated bibliography of analytical methods available in CoRA. This list will be updated as new methods are developed, published and added to the CoRA environment.

Osborne DL, Simmons TL, Nawrocki SP (2004).Reconsidering the auricular surface as an indicator of age at death.  Journal of Forensic Sciences, 49:905-911. 

Age estimation based on auricular surface morphology. This method is a modified 6-phase system of the existing 8-phase auricular surface aging method by Lovejoy et al (1985). The sample for this study consisted of 266 individuals of documented age, sex, and ancestry from the Terry and Bass Donated Collections which represent early 20th century and late 20th century individuals, respectively.

Phenice TW (1969). A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 30:297-301. 

Sex estimation based on three features of the adult os coxa: the ventral arc, subpubic concavity, and the ischiopubic ramus. A test of 275 Black and White males (n = 180) and females (n = 95) from the Terry Skeletal Collection yielded an overall accuracy rate of 96%.

Rhine S (1990). Non-metric skull racing.  In Skeletal Attribution of Race: Methods for Forensic Anthropology, edited by G. W. Gill and S. Rhine, pp. 9-20. Maxwell Museum Anthropological Papers No. 4, Albuquerque, NM. 

Ancestry estimation based on cranial morphology (Asian, Black, White). Forty-five cranial and dental traits commonly used by Mountain, Desert, and Coastal Forensic Anthropologists were assessed for distinguishing between “American Caucasoid,” “Southwestern Mongoloid,” and “American Black:” 18 from the braincase, 13 from the face, 7 dental, and 7 from the mandible. The traits determined to be the most useful in ancestry assessment are provided for each group.  

Rogers TL  (1999). A visual method of determining the sex of skeletal remains using the distal humerus.  Journal of Forensic Sciences, 44:57-60. 

Sex estimation based on the scoring of four dimorphic features of the distal humerus: trochlear constriction, trochlear asymmetry, olecranon fossa shape and depth, and the angle of the medial epicondyle. Note:  In ambiguous cases (two traits scored asmale, two traits scored as female), greater weight should be given to the olecranon fossa.  The greatest accuracy is achieved when all four features are present and scorable. The technique was developed on a 20th century anatomy series, the University of Toronto Grant Skeletal Collection, and was tested on 35 known individuals from the University of New Mexico Documented Collection and 93 individuals from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

Rogers NL, Flournoy LE, McCormick WF (2000). The rhomboid fossa of the clavicle as a sex and age estimator.  Journal of Forensic Sciences, 45:61-67.

Sex estimation based on clavicle morphology, specifically, the presence or absence of the rhomboid fossa.  A rhomboid fossa is defined as a pitted ordepressed marking on the inferior sternal end of the clavicle.  Males are more likely than females to have a rhomboid fossa, and rhomboid fossa are more commonly exhibited in younger individuals than older individuals. This method includes posterior probabilities for the presence/absence of the fossa. This method was derived from a large contemporary sample (n = 344: 113 females, 231 males).

Samworth R, Gowland R (2007). Estimation of adult skeletal age-at-death: Statistical assumptions and applications. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 17:174-188. Age estimation based on features of the os coxa. This method provides 90% prediction intervals for each combination of pubic symphysis (scored following the Suchey-Brooks method, n = 376) andauricular surface (scored following the Lovejoy method, n = 448) that they observed in a combined sample of 18th-century English and 20th-century Portuguese.  These prediction intervals have been found to be accurate for 20th-century Americans as well (Passalacqua 2010).  When both scores can be observed on the same individual, a combined age estimate may be produced in this manner.  Such a combined age estimate maybe more precise than the pubic symphysis alone, particularly for individuals whose pubic symphyses are in phases 3-6.

Schaefer M, Black S, Scheuer L (2009). Juvenile Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual. Academic Press, Burlington, MA.

Age estimation based on epiphyseal fusion. Age ranges for developmental stages throughout the skeleton are provided. This method is meant for aging the juvenile skeleton. This manual is a compilation of aging data from numerous sources from the last hundred years from a variety of journals and texts.

Walker PL (2005). Greater sciatic notch morphology:  Sex, age, and population differences.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 127:385-391.

Provides empirical probabilities of being male or female for a given sciatic notch score, following Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). A score of 1 typically indicates a female, while a score of 3 or greater usually indicates a male.  A score of 2 represents intermediate morphology, although a larger percentage of males than females exhibit this degree of expression. There is also a relationship between age-at-death and sciatic notch score, with younger people tending to have wider greater sciatic notches. The reference sample consists of American males and females (n = 114 and 97, respectively) who died between 1915-1955, as well as London males and females (n = 51 and 34, respectively) who died between 1761-1851.

Walker PL (2008). Sexing skulls using discriminant function analysis of visually assessed traits.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 136:39-50.

Provides empirical probabilities of being male for a given score of observed cranial morphology following the ordinal scales presented in Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994).  The sectioning point is 0, and scores less than 0 are more likely to be male, and scores greater than 0 are more likely to be female.  The probability distributions are based on 304 skulls of known sex from European American, African American, English (British), and 156 Native American individuals.