The Estimation of Sex of Human Skeletal Remains in the Portuguese Identified Collections: History and Prospects

Abstract

The estimation of biological sex is of paramount significance for the identification of anonymous skeletal remains in contemporary medico-legal contexts or bioarcheological studies of past societies. Sex estimation techniques are usually affected by population-specific sexual dimorphism. As such, the need for distinctive standards for each population has long been acknowledged. This paper aims to document and critically address sex estimation methods that have been created, or tested, in Portuguese identified skeletal collections in a historically situated dimension. Moreover, the ever-changing landscape of forensic anthropology calls for a deep reflection about a plethora of issues regarding sex estimation in human remains, including the usage of medical imaging methods and innovative statistical approaches, the biological and social resignification of sex and gender, the problems arising from secular change, and the ethics involving the use of human skeletal collections within the discipline.