Sexual dimorphism in clavicles from a sample of modern Colombians

Abstract

In Forensic Anthropology, sex determination constitures one of che basic pillars for the analysis of the biological profile from an individual, because the estimation of elements such stature and age, depends greatly on the identification of this variable. Taking into account that several dismembered, incomplete or skeleronized bodies are received at the Colombian Nacional Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF), in many of these cases ir is necessary to use metric analysis in order to esrablish the sex of these individuals with certainty. This study aims to develop a merhod for sex estimation in skeleral remains through the creation of discriminant functions, which could be used and applied in the forensic anthropology laboratories in che country, in order to allow an assessment of sex, when there are no other bones available for this purpose.

For the present investigation, a sample of clavicles from 84 individuals (27 females, 57 males) with an average age of 50 years old was taken, in which four variables where analyzed (maximum length of che clavicle, midpoint circumference, sagital - medial diamerer and vertical - medial diameter).