Sexual dimorphism in the Chinese femur

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been renewed interest in contemporary and ancient Chinese skeletal populations. The purpose of this research is the osteometric assessment of sexual dimorphism in recent mainland Chinese cemetery populations and the development of discriminant function standards to determine sex from the femur. The sample for this project was composed of 87 adult skeletons from cemeteries in Chang Chun City (Liaoning) and Qingdao (Shandong). A total of six femoral measurements was taken and subjected to SPSS discriminant function analysis. Three dimensions were selected by the stepwise analysis in the following order: distal epiphyseal breadth, maximum length, and anteroposterior diameter of the midshaft. This function produced 92.3% classification accuracy. Direct analysis revealed that distal epiphyseal breadth alone provided an even better separation (94.9%). The remaining functions were less discriminating. In conclusion, distal epiphyseal breadth is the most dimorphic part of the Chinese femur. This contrasts with earlier findings on American Whites and Blacks in which head diameter is the most dimorphic. This and other significant differences underscore the necessity of obtaining population-specific values for metric analysis of sex. These findings also support previous studies indicating that linear dimensions such as length are often less discriminating than breadth and circumference measurements in long bones. Finally, the fact that maximum dimorphism was found at a major weight-bearing joint suggests that the size differentials between Chinese males and females may be in large part functional in nature, perhaps arising from sex-specific physical activities.