SEX ASSESSMENT FROM METACARPALS OF THE HUMAN HAND

Discriminant functions designed for the determination of sex from meta carpal measurements are presented. Three samples of metacarpal specime ns were employed in the analysis; one consisting of 212 individuals fr om the Terry Collection, one of 33 individuals from the Royal Free Med ical School in London, and finally, 40 individuals from the Forensic/D onated Collection, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New M exico, all of whom had documented sex. Five measurements designed to c haracterize the size and shape of the human metacarpal were taken on a ll five digits. Based oil the Terry Collection, significant metric dif ferences attributed to race were found for digits I and III, and thus functions could only be derived for the three remaining metacarpals. S ex discriminant functions derived from the Terry Collection for digits II, IV, and V provide correct classification of 92.0, 86.26, and 84.3 7 percent. The resulting three linear equations were then independentl y applied to the Royal Free Medical School and Forensic/Donated sample s to validate the accuracy of the original functions. Percentage of co rrect classification for each of the test samples varies.