The focus of this study is to assess sexual dimorphism of non-metric and metric characteristics of the mandible of a Dutch post Medieval rural population from the Middenbeemster polder in the...Show moreThe focus of this study is to assess sexual dimorphism of non-metric and metric characteristics of the mandible of a Dutch post Medieval rural population from the Middenbeemster polder in the province of Noord Holland in the Netherlands. The mandible is not seen as a reliable feature for sex estimation in research on Dutch Medieval populations based on non-metric traits. Studies on populations around the world show that the mandible is a reliable tool for estimating sex, provided that metric measurements of the mandible are used. This study focuses on the re-evaluation of the mandible as a reliable tool for sex estimation by studying both non-metric and metric sexual dimorphism of the mandible in a Dutch population. The development of a technique that reliably estimates mandibular sex in Dutch medieval populations would be a great contribution to the field of bioarchaeology. Sex estimation is paramount for the reconstruction of demographic structures of past societies. In this thesis sexual dimorphism based on both non-metric and metric is assessed. 90 samples from the Middenbeemster with known sex are used for measurement and observations. This sample consists of 40 females and 50 males. The non-metric scores are compared to known sex to assess reliability. The metric measurements are analysed using binary logistic regression and tree modelling to assess if the specific measurements are reliable in estimating sex of an unknown individual. The overall accuracy of the non-metric sex estimation is very low and therefore not reliable for further use. The metric measurements have a higher reliability rate, especially the bigonial breadth and the mean of the maximum ramus height. With the use of these two measurements a cross validated classification accuracy of 80.2 percent can be achieved. In conclusion, after re-evaluating the mandible it appears that the mandible can be used with high accuracy in sex estimation in the Dutch population of Middenbeemster and maybe in other North Western European populations from the post Medieval time period, which has to be assessed by future research.Show less
Sex estimation methods commonly used in osteoarchaeology involve the pelvis and skull. If the pelvis, cranium or other big-sized bones are damaged or cannot be found in a burial, new methods for...Show moreSex estimation methods commonly used in osteoarchaeology involve the pelvis and skull. If the pelvis, cranium or other big-sized bones are damaged or cannot be found in a burial, new methods for estimating sex are needed. This study aims to determine the degree of sexual dimorphism from the first proximal hand phalanges, in order to explore the possibility of using this particular bone for sex estimation. The sample used in this study was taken from Middenbeemster skeletal collection housed in Human Osteoarchaeology Laboratory, Leiden University. The skeletal collection from the 17th - 19th century was chosen because it has individuals of known sex and age. A total of 103 first proximal hand phalanges obtained from 64 adult individuals (22 males and 42 females) were used in this study. There were seven measurements used to analyze the degree of sexual dimorphism, including maximal length and diaphyseal and epiphyseal widths, both mediolaterally and anteroposteriorly. The degree of sexual dimorphism in the first proximal hand phalanx of Middenbeemster skeletal collection is up to 22.38%, indicated by left APWM. The lowest degree of sexual dimorphism is shown by the left ML. Five out of seven measurements used in this study show the left side has a higher degree of sexual dimorphism than the right. The results of this study indicate that the first proximal hand phalanx can potentially be used for sex estimation.Show less
