Metric sex differentiation of the pars petrosa ossis temporalis

The importance of the petrous portion for metric sex determination is a con troversial subject in the archaeological and anthropological literature. To achieve a forensically suitable method fur sex differentiation, 10 measuri ng distances were determined on recent forensic material in the form of 410 petrous portions, which had proved to be reliable in the preliminary exami nations. The most important findings can be summarized as follows: the petr ous portion revealed significant metric sex differences, in particular the width:height index (P < 0.001); the sex differences are age-dependent; diff erences in the measuring distances on the petrous portion can be observed w ith regard to their lateral location on either side of the skull; the discr imination analysis allows a correct classification of two-thirds of all pet rous portions studied. To some extent, these findings contrast with those a lready published, but the discrepancies can be attributed primarily to the different composition of the samples used in the respective studies.