When Archaeologists are on a dig and they find a human skull, how do the determine if it was a man or woman’s skull? (Assume there is no skeleton attached)
A couple of good answers so far, but would these characteristics be carried over when comparing a Black, or Asian female, with a White or East Indian Male? Black and Asian females have bigger jaw structure and teeth compared to smaller white or East Indian men. In other words, do these clues carry over to different races, since race cannot be determined from a skull.
The adult female skull retains gracile attributes seen in the pre-pubescent skull, but the male cranium becomes markedly rougher in adulthood at the sites of muscle attachment.
Major differences between the female and male skill include the posterior of the cranium (the occipital), robustest of the brow-ridge, mastoid process, nuchal crest, temporal lines, and mandible. Although distinct, the ability to quantify measures of the skull for sex determination has met with limited success and successful sex identification based purely on a skull is a very subjective process based experience in identifying and assessing non-metric characteristics.
Above the orbits (eye sockets), the male cranium tends to have “blunt” superior margins and larger supraorbital (brow) ridges. The female cranium tends to have “sharp” superior margins of the orbits and no discernible supraorbital ridges.
The occipital of males tend to have a well-defined nuchal crest. In some cases, the nuchal crest and nuchal line are very rugged and sharp. In very gracile females, there is almost no nuchal crest and the nuchal line is completely absent.
The mandible of a female cranium tends to have a “pointed” chin. The area around the gonial angle is smooth and does not project. The male mandible tends to have a “square” shape and in extreme case the area around the gonial angle is “flared”. The dentition (teeth) of males is frequently larger.
Finally, the area of the temporal in the female cranium is smoother and less rugged than that of the male cranium. In the female cranium the zygomatic arch normally does not extend, as a ridge, posterior of the external auditory meatus. In male crania the zygomatic arch typically extends, as a ridge, posterior to the external auditory meatus. In females the mastoid process is small and smooth. In males the mastoid process is large and rugged.
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The previous post about sex determination is spot-on. And actually, a good idea of race can be determined from the skull as well. The differences that aid in determining what race the person was usually cause no confusion in what the sex of the person was.
Forensically speaking, the skull can be determined as being of either Asian, European, or African origin.
European Origin:
1.Narrow nasal aperture and a sharp nasal sill
2.More apparent overbite
3. Orthognathic profile
4. Narrow, parabolic-curve shaped palate
5. Third molars in adults usually missing (more common in people of European decent)
6. Generally more crowed dentition
Asian Origin:
1.Tubercle located on the inferior zygomatic margin
2.Forward-projecting zygoma
3.Orthognathic profile
4.Moderate nasal spine
5.Very wide, almost half-circle shaped palate
African Origin:
1.Very wide nasal aperture with guttered nasal sill
2. Forward-projecting maxilla
3. Prognathic profile
4. No nasal spine
5 U-Shaped palate
These are not always totally accurate, especially in cases of the remains of someone who was mixed in race… but generally, you can get a pretty good idea.
