METHODS OF SEX ESTIMATION FROM THE CLAVICLES IN FORENSIC EXAMINATION OF BONE REMAINS

One of the most complex problems in forensic medical expertise is the process of identification of unknown corpses and their parts, which very often include bone remains. Sometimes it is practically impossible to collect the data needed for police investigation because the most important parts of the skeleton such as skull, pelvic bones and long trabecular bones are absent. The aim of the study was to develop new methods for sex determination from the clavicle of an adult person based on the mathematical and statistical analysis of their osteometric properties. For this purpose bone samples from three skeletal collections were used: collection of the Department of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University; collection of the Department of Physical Anthropology of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (St. Petersburg), and the The Robert J. Terry Anatomical Skeletal Collection stored at the Department of Physical Anthropology of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (Washington). The study demonstrated the possibility of correct sex determination from the clavicle using the five-interval diagnostic table suitable for quick sex assessment and multiple discriminant models with an accuracy of correct sex estimation between 85% and 97.5%. The methods described in the article can be applied not only in forensic context (especially when working with a limited set of isolated skeletal elements or their fragments), but also in the physical and medical anthropology for reconstructing an unidentified individual's biological profile.