Brief communication: A blind test of mandibular morphology for sexing mandibles in the first few years of life

Abstract

Loth and Henneberg ([2001] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 115:179-186) proposed that consistent shape differences exist between male and female juvenile mandibles which can be used to predict sex with an accuracy of 81%. A sample of known sex and age from the Spitalfields Collection was examined blind twice and resulted in an overall accuracy of only 64%. The tests also showed that: 1) the method sexed males more reliably than females; and 2) consistency was low. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.