engleski

Sex assessment using the preauricular sulcus morphology: a validation study by the results of aDNA analysis

Aim: to test the preauricular sulcus morphology for sex assessment on the medieval population from the Eastern Adriatic Coast. Methods: The sample comprised 19 male an 13 female skeletons for which sex was determined in the previous research by the amelogenin analysis. Two students and two experienced scored preauricular sulci twice according to Buikstra and Ubelaker definitions. We tested intra- and inter-observer error using Cohen’s Kappa and interclass correlation coefficient. For each sex, we calculated the frequency of scores and tested sex differences using Fischer’s exact test with statistical significance set at P ≤ 0.05. We computed sex assessment accuracy using presence/absence criteria and score probabilities from previous research in modern populations. Results: Experienced researchers obtained almost perfect scoring agreement both for intra- and inter- observer error, while students obtained fine to moderate. Expression of sulcus scores was statistically different between males and females (F = 9.031 ; P = 0.030). Using presence/absence criteria sex was assessed correctly in 66.7% of cases (57.9% males and 78.6%) while using probabilities from previous research it was assessed correctly in 75.8% (89.5% males and 57.1% females). Conclusions: The study revealed that sulcus scores are highly dependent on researchers’ experience. The results showed that presence/absence criteria and score probabilities should not be used for sex assessment in analyzed population due to low accuracy rate. Additionally, the study highlighted the importance of aDNA analysis when testing sex assessment methods on ancient populations. Sex assessment standards that are usually developed on modern populations are often not applicable to ancient ones and aDNA analysis is the most reliable method in sexual dimorphism studies when documented skeletal collections are not available.

ancient DNA ; amelogenin ; sex assessment ; sexual dimorphism ; preauricular sulcus

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