Estimating sex from the seven cervical vertebrae: An analysis of two European skeletal populations

Methods for estimating sex from a variety of skeletal elements is vital in forensic anthropology as many of the traditionally studied bones are often fragmented upon recovery. The current study examined the seven cervical vertebrae to establish an accurate sex estimation method for Europeans. Discriminant functions were developed from the seven cervical vertebrae using the maximum body height (CHT), vertebral foramen anterior-posterior diameter (CAP), and vertebral foramen transverse diameter (CTR). To date, no study has used these variables to estimate sex from human remains. Two hundred and ninety-five adult individuals (157 males, 138 females) from the University of Athens and the Luis Lopes skeletal collections were studied. No population differences were exhibited between the contemporary Greek and historic Portuguese skeletons, indicating that discriminant functions for sex estimation from the cervical vertebrae may not be population- or temporally-specific. The results of this study indicate that only CHT and CTR exhibited statistically significant sexual dimorphism. Seven multivariate discriminant functions were developed with accuracy rates between 80.3% and 84.5%. Cross-validation studies showed that five of the seven functions exhibited strong statistical algorithms. This study will assist with estimating the sex of unknown Europeans from the cervical vertebrae especially in cases where more accurate predictors of sex, such as the skull or the pelvis, are unavailable.