Craniometric Analysis of Foramen Magnum for Estimation of Sex

Abstract

Human skull is shown to exhibit numerous sexually dimorphic traits. Estimation of sex is a challenging task especially when a part of skull is brought for medicolegal investigation. The present research was planned to evaluate the sexing potential of the dimensions of foramen magnum in forensic identification by craniometric analysis. Length and breadth of the foramen magnum was measured using Vernier calipers and the area of foramen magnum was calculated. The length, breadth, and area of foramen magnum were found to be larger in males than females. Sexual dimorphism index was calculated to estimate the sexing potential of each variable. The study observations are suggestive of the limited utility of the craniometric analysis of foramen magnum during the examination of skull and its parts in estimation of sex. Keywords—Forensic Anthropology, Skeletal remains, Identification, Sex estimation, Foramen magnum. I. INTRODUCTION STIMATION of the sex of the skeletal remains is an essential element of any medicolegal investigation. Human skeleton shows sexually dimorphic traits, and estimation of the sex of skeletal remains is thus, based on morphological and morphometric examination. Sexing accuracy of the human skeleton varies for the different bones and in different population groups. Human skull is considered as one of the most reliable bones for sex differentiation (1). Previous studies have used different measurements on the skull to estimate its sex accurately (2)0(5). During high impact and severe disruptive injuries, only fragments of bones may be available for examination. Estimation of sex becomes challenging when only a part of skull is brought for examination and hence, a need to derive standards for sex estimation from different regions of the skull. The basal region of the occipital bone is likely to survive the physical insults than the other parts of skull owing to the abundant soft tissue cover, skull thickness in the region, and its relatively well0protected anatomical position. Thus, there is an increased possibility of recovering this part of skull even in cases of severe trauma, and studies on the occipital bone may provide useful clues in identification of significantly disrupted