Determining Sex And Ancestry Of The Hyoid From The Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection

One of the basic goals of the physical anthropologist is to create a biological profile, consisting of sex, ancestry, age, and stature, from the skeletal material that they are presented with. This thesis seeks to explore size and shape differences related to sex and ancestry from the hyoid bones of the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection in order to gauge its usefulness in the process of developing a biological profile. A series of measurements were taken from 398 hyoids and analysis was conducted using a number of statistical methods. Independent samples t-tests were used to examine size differences between sexes and ancestries, while linear regression analysis and principle component analysis were used to examine shape differences. Discriminant function analysis was employed to test the ability of the hyoids to be classified by sex or ancestry. The ultimate goal of the thesis is to provide physical anthropologists with a series of discriminant function equations that can be used to estimate the sex and ancestry of a hyoid. Five equations ranging in accuracy from 83-88% were developed to determine sex of a hyoid, while four equations ranging in accuracy from 70-89% can be used to determine ancestry. In addition, the t-tests, regression analyses, and principle component analysis have identified several variations in size and shape between sexes and ancestries. These analyses have provided further knowledge as to the morphological form of the hyoid, as well as a method that can be easily used by physical anthropologists to assess sex and ancestry

Exploring Ancestral Variation Of The Hyoid

This study utilizes metric analysis to examine size and shape variation between hyoids of Africans and Europeans in the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection. A total of 200 fused and unfused hyoids were measured and three statistical methods were employed to explore variation between ancestries. First, independent sample t-tests showed that some significant size differences do occur between ancestries. Second, to examine shape variation, skeletal measurements were regressed on the geometric mean using least squares linear regression with the residuals used to evaluate size-corrected shape differences. Finally, discriminant function analysis was used to develop two functions for ancestry prediction with overall accuracies of 73% and 77%. Results of the analyses suggest hyoid size and shape differences do occur between ancestries, notably that European hyoids are broader than African hyoids, while the African hyoid is longer than Europeans. © 2011 American Academy of Forensic Sciences

Determination Of Sex From The Hyoid Bone

This article explores size differences related to sex in the hyoid bones from the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection. A series of measurements were taken from 398 hyoids, both fused and unfused. The inclusion of unfused hyoids in the study provides the opportunity to investigate previously unknown size differences between sexes as well as to determine their utility in determining sex. Two-way ANOVA was used to explore differences in hyoid size as related to ancestry and sex. Discriminant function analysis was employed to test the ability of the hyoids to be classified by sex. Six discriminant function equations ranging in accuracy from 82% to 85% are provided, each of which is more accurate than many of the discriminant functions developed in past hyoid research, are simple to use, and can be used to estimate the sex of a hyoid regardless of its state of fusion. In addition to providing further information about the morphological form of the hyoid, these analyses provide a method that can be easily employed to assess sex of the individual from the hyoid bone. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc