Sexing and Stature Estimation Criteria for Balkan Populations

:  Two standard measurements, maximum femur length and head diameter, were collected by International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) anthropologists. Only Kosovans had both femur dimensions for both sexes. Antemortem stature data were available only for Kosovan and Croatian males. Despite these limitation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forensic sciences 2008-05, Vol.53 (3), p.601-605
Main Authors: Jantz, Richard L., Kimmerle, Erin H., Baraybar, Jose Pablo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Balkans
Body Height
Bones
Ethnicity
Europe, Eastern
European Continental Ancestry Group
Femur - anatomy & histology
Forensic Anthropology - methods
Forensic osteology
forensic science
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Physical growth
Regression Analysis
Sex Determination by Skeleton - methods
sex estimation
stature estimation
United States
White people
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Summary::  Two standard measurements, maximum femur length and head diameter, were collected by International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) anthropologists. Only Kosovans had both femur dimensions for both sexes. Antemortem stature data were available only for Kosovan and Croatian males. Despite these limitations, the data offer the opportunity to examine ethnic variation and to present sex and stature estimation criteria for these groups. Additional data from Croatians and from American Whites were used for comparison in certain parts of the analysis. Femur variation was considerable. Kosovans can be characterized as short and robust, Bosnians as tall and less robust, and Croatians are tall and gracile, resembling American Whites more than the other groups. Some limited antemortem data on stature was also available, allowing stature estimation equations to be estimated for Croatians and Kosovans. Antemortem stature estimates were obtained from interviews with relatives and are shown to overestimate actual stature. We argue that equations predicting height obtained from relatives is the most realistic in this case because that is the height to which an estimate obtained from bone lengths will be compared. Kosovans were also shown to have experienced slight secular increase in femur length over the past 70 years.
ISSN:0022-1198
1556-4029
DOI:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00716.x