Abstract
In the present study, in order to further discuss the usefulness of femoral diaphysis in determining sex of human remains, sexual dimorphism of mid-femoral cross-sectional geometry was examined. A total of 31 Jomon femora of the Hobi shell mound site of Aichi prefecture (14 males and 17 females, ca. 3000–2300 BP) and 42 modern Japanese femora of the Kanto region (21 males and 21 females, aged 20 to 50 years) were used for the study. The cross sections were captured by means of micro-CT. The cross-sectional geometry was measured using ImageJ and CT-Rugle softwares. The Wilks’ lambda (λ) and percentage of correct classification (PCC) were calculated in each measurement. It was found that, both in the two groups, the cortical bone area was the most accurate sex discriminator (Jomonese: λ = 0.230, PCC = 96.8, modern Japanese: λ = 0.469, PCC = 85.7). In the Jomonese, the anteroposterior outer diameter, outer perimeter, periosteal dimension, maximum second moment of area, and polar moment of area also achieved the accuracy of higher than 90% (λ: 0.311–0.362, PCC: 93.5–96.8). In the modern Japanese, all measurements except the cortical bone area had relatively low accuracy (λ: 0.514–0.876, PCC: 61.9–81.0). The results of the present study indicate that cortical bone area of mid-femoral cross section can be of great use in determining sex of human remains.
