Odontometric sex discrimination in the herculaneum sample (79 AD, Naples, Italy), with application to juveniles

Researchers successfully developed discriminant function formulae using dental dimensions to estimate the sex of subadult individuals from Herculaneum, victims of Vesuvius' eruption in 79 AD. The study found that canines exhibit the greatest sex dimorphism, achieving up to 100% accuracy in adult sex determination based on specific measurements. Applied to 30 subadults, this method correctly assigned sex in 22 cases, matching osteological assessments with 73.33% accuracy. The findings suggest that odontometric analysis holds promise for sex estimation in juvenile archaeological samples, addressing a significant limitation in forensic and archaeological research.

Viciano, J., Alemán, I., D’Anastasio, R., Capasso, L., & Botella, M. C. (2011). Odontometric sex discrimination in the herculaneum sample (79 AD, Naples, Italy), with application to juveniles. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 145(1), 97–106. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21471