The creation of a documented human skeletal reference collection and the application of current aging and sexing standards on a Greek skeletal population

• Main Author: Eliopoulos, Constantine
• Published: University of Sheffield 2006
• Subjects: 930.1
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.485123

Human skeletal reference collections have played an important role in the development of physical anthropology. Such a collection was put together as part of the present study. It consists of the remains of 153 Greek individuals. The remains come from cemeteries in the area of Athens and were donated to the University of Athens by local municipalities. All ages for both sexes are well represented in this sample, with the exception of subadult remains. A variety of pathological conditions are present in the coJIection, making it a useful sample for studying human skeletal morphology. Recent publications dealing with methodological considerations in physical anthropology advocate the creation of population specific standards for aging and sexing techniques. This is the result of the realisation that there are differences between populations in the expression of sexual dimorphism and skeletal aging. The collection prepared for this study, along with an existing collection were used as a sample upon which current aging and sexing methods were tested. Results indicate that the majority of the pelvic sex traits can be used on Greek skeletal population, as they displayed high accuracy rates. Cranial traits performed poorly, suggesting that these traits are not appropriate for this population. Metric sex traits of postcranial elements appear to have a great potential as a sex determination method, but only after they have been adjusted to reflect the skeletal proportions of Greeks. The aging methods produced similar results to studies conducted on populations from other parts of the world. In particular, these methods have a tendency to overestimate younger and underestimate older individuals. Modifications of these techniques are required before they can be applied on Greek skeletal populations.