Sex determination in subadults using auricular surface morphology: a forensic science perspective

Area of Science:

• Biological anthropology
• Forensic science
• Paleontology

Background:

• Accurate sex determination in subadult skeletons is crucial for biological anthropology and forensic investigations.
• Existing methods using adult indicators have proven unreliable for subadults.
• Weaver's 1980 method proposed using auricular surface morphology for subadult sex determination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability of Weaver's auricular surface morphology method for sex determination in subadults.
• To assess the percentage of correctly sexed individuals using Weaver's criteria.
• To determine the probability of correct sex diagnosis for individual subadult cases.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a sample of 58 ilia from subadults of known sex (birth to 18 years).
• Performed blind examinations of auricular surface elevation using Weaver's criteria.
• Compared results with known sex diagnoses based on soft tissue presence.

Main Results:

• Weaver's method achieved 85.3% accuracy in sexing males.
• Accuracy in sexing females was only 58.3%, slightly above chance.
• Results closely matched Weaver's original findings.

Conclusions:

• Weaver's method is more effective for male subadults than females.
• The technique's low accuracy for females limits its utility in forensic and population studies.
• Further research is needed to improve sex determination accuracy in subadult skeletal remains.