Deck 8: Attribution of Sex

Question 1

Which of the following has been tried to be used to attribute sex to subadults?

A) Difference between dental and skeletal age
B) Measurements of deciduous teeth
C) Eigenshape analysis of the ilia
D) All of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is consistent with the crania of a male?

A) Prominent browridges
B) Large mastoid processes
C) Square mental eminence (chin)
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is not consistent with the crania of a male?

A) Prominent browridges
B) Large mastoid processes
C) Sharp supraorbital margin
D) Square mental eminence (chin)

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which one of the following would strongly suggest to you that a pelvis you found could have belonged to a male?

A) Presence of a preauricular sulcus
B) Ischium-pubic index of 80%
C) U-shaped subpubic angle
D) All of the above

Question 5

Which one of the following would strongly suggest to you that a pelvis you found could have belonged to a female?

A) Presence of a preauricular sulcus
B) Ischium-pubic index of 90%
C) U-shaped subpubic angle
D) All of the above

Question 6

Which one of the following would suggest to you that a pelvis you found could have belonged to a male?

A) Presence of a preauricular sulcus
B) Narrow sciatic notch
C) U-shaped subpubic angle
D) All of the above

Question 7

Which one of the following would suggest to you that a pelvis you found could have belonged to a female?

A) Presence of a preauricular sulcus
B) Narrow sciatic notch
C) V-shaped subpubic angle
D) All of the above

Question 8

Which one of the following would strongly suggest to you that a pelvis you found in a shallow grave could have belonged to a female?

A) Presence of a preauricular sulcus
B) Wide sciatic notch
C) Ventral arc
D) All of the above

Question 9

Which one of the following is not one of Phenice's characteristics useful for attributing sex to the pelvis?

A) Preauricular sulcus
B) Ventral arc
C) Subpubic concavity
D) Medial aspect of the ischiopubic ramus

Question 10

Which one of the following would suggest to you that a pelvis you found in a shallow grave could have belonged to a male?

A) Presence of a preauricular sulcus
B) Wide sciatic notch
C) Ventral arc
D) Long, narrow sacrum

Question 11

Which one of the following osteological characteristics of the pelvis are useful in attributing sex?

A) Preauricular sulcus
B) Sciatic notch
C) Sub-pubic angle
D) All of the above

Question 12

Which of the following is not consistent with the crania of a female?

A) Prominent browridges
B) Small mastoid processes
C) Square mental eminence (chin)
D) All of the above

Question 13

Which of the following is consistent with the crania of a female?

A) Small browridges
B) Small mastoid processes
C) Small mental eminence (chin)
D) All of the above

Question 14

Which of the following logistic discriminant function values is indicative of a male?

A) 2.987
B) 1.001
C) -0.0321
D) All of the above

Question 15

Which of the following is consistent with the skeleton of a subadult male?

A) Elevated auricular surface
B) Shallow greater sciatic notch
C) Both A and B
D) Neither A or B

Question 16

Which of the following is consistent with the skeleton of a subadult female?

A) Elevated auricular surface
B) Shallow greater sciatic notch
C) Both A and B
D) Neither A or B

Question 17

Which of the following is consistent with the skeleton of a female?

A) Head of the humerus below 40 mm
B) Head of the femur of 40 mm
C) Head of the radius of 13 mm
D) All of the above

Question 18

Which of the following is consistent with the skeleton of a male?

A) Head of the humerus below 40 mm
B) Head of the femur of 50 mm
C) Head of the radius of 13 mm
D) All of the above

Question 19

Which of the following bones has two measurements useful in attributing sex?

A) Scapula
B) Humerus
C) Radius
D) None of the above

Question 20

Which of the following bones are not useful in attributing sex?

A) Scapula
B) Clavicle
C) Humerus
D) Radius

Question 21

Which of the following measurements in sex discriminant functions is most difficult to perform?

A) Maximum length of the skull
B) Maximum breadth of the skull
C) Length of the mastoid process
D) Maximum width of the palate

Question 22

Which of the following ancestral groups cannot be attributed sex by discriminant functions?

A) Whites
B) Blacks
C) Hispanics
D) Asians

Question 23

Which of the following measurements is not a straight distance between two points that is used in sex discriminant functions?

A) Maximum length of the skull
B) Maximum breadth of the skull
C) Length of the mastoid process
D) Maximum width of the palate

Question 24

Which of the following measurements is not entered into discriminant functions used to attribute sex?

A) Maximum breadth of the skull
B) Maximum width across the zygomatic arches
C) Maximum width of the lower jaw
D) Maximum length of the skull

Question 25

Which one of the following osteological elements are useful in attributing sex?

A) Pelvis
B) Skull
C) Postcranial bones
D) All of the above

Question 26

It is possible in the future that subadults will be able to be sexed as accurately as adults.

Question 27

A skull is found with large mastoid processes and browridges as well as a broad chin and rounded supraorbital margin. Based on this information, the skull is most likely female.

Question 28

The skull is the second best structure of the human skeleton for attributing sex.

Question 29

The ischium-pubic index is just one of several metric methods for attributing sex to the pelvis.

Question 30

All of the other classic traits of the pelvis vary in a manner similar to that of the greater sciatic notch.

Question 31

The traits identified by T. W. Phenice for sexing the pelvis are not part of the classic traits of this structure.

Question 32

A short and wide sacrum is indicative of a female pelvis.

Question 33

The preauricular sulcus is well developed in males.

Question 34

If the sciatic notch of an os coxae has barely enough room to place your thumb, the individual was probably male.

Question 35

A wide subpubic angle is indicative of a male.

Question 36

A heart-shaped pelvic inlet is indicative of a male.

Question 37

The characteristics of the skull that can be used to attribute sex vary to a considerable degree.

Question 38

According to the logistic discriminant functions of Philip Walker, a function value less than zero (0) is more likely male.

Question 39

The length of the mastoid process is not useful for attributing sex in discriminant functions.

Question 40

The elevation of the auricular surface and width of the sciatic notch have limited value in attributing sex to subadult pelvises.

Question 41

Most studies for attributing sex to subadults have concentrated on the pelvis.

Question 42

The accuracy of most methods for sexing subadults is around 70%.

Question 43

Anthropologists can sex subadults with as much confidence as adults.

Question 44

If a femur is found with an epicondylar (knee) breadth of 55, a maximum head diameter of 30, there is a good probability that it is male.

Question 45

The head of the radius of males is generally larger than those of females.

Question 46

If a scapula is found with a height of 13 cm and a glenoid cavity height of 32 mm, there is a good probability that it is male.

Question 47

Postcranial bones cannot be used to attribute sex.

Question 48

The accuracy of the Giles and Elliot formulas for attributing sex are over 90%.

Question 49

The Giles and Elliot formulas calculated different discriminant functions for attributing sex for various ancestral groups.

Question 50

The pelvis is not as good as the skull for attributing sex to a skeleton.