Determination of sex from skeletal remains is performed using a number of methods developed by biological anthropology. They must be evaluated for consistency and for their performance in a forensic setting. Twenty skeletons of varied provenance had their sex determined by 15 existing methods of forensic anthropology (7 metric and 8 morphological). The methods were evaluated for their consistency in determination of sex. No single individual was identified as belonging to one sex exclusively. Ambiguous results were obtained by metric methods for fourteen individuals (70%) and by morphological methods for only five individuals (25%) (Chi-squared = 4.3, df = 1, <svg xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="vertical-align:-0.6370001pt" id="M1" height="9.2729pt" version="1.1" viewBox="-0.0498162 -8.6359 44.8393 9.2729" width="44.8393pt"><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,0,0)"><path id="g113-81" d="M600 480C600 590 528 650 384 650H143L137 622C222 614 225 607 210 531L130 127C113 41 106 36 23 28L17 0H294L300 28C204 36 195 42 212 127L243 284L314 263C327 263 339 263 352 264C465 271 600 337 600 480ZM508 481C508 351 402 304 329 304C289 304 265 311 250 317L295 559C302 594 310 606 323 611C335 616 350 619 367 619C455 619 508 573 508 481Z"/></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,11.658,0)"><path id="g117-91" d="M512 -3V55L134 254V256L512 456V514L75 281V230L512 -3Z"/></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,22.921,0)"><path id="g113-49" d="M241 635C89 635 35 457 35 312C35 153 89 -12 240 -12C390 -12 443 166 443 312C443 466 390 635 241 635ZM238 602C329 602 354 454 354 312C354 172 330 22 240 22C152 22 124 173 124 313S148 602 238 602Z"/></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,29.161,0)"><path id="g113-47" d="M113 -12C146 -12 170 11 170 46C170 78 146 103 114 103S58 78 58 46C58 11 82 -12 113 -12Z"/></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,32.125,0)"><use xlink:href="#g113-49"/></g><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,38.365,0)"><path id="g113-54" d="M153 550H386L412 615L406 623H120L82 318C104 327 142 338 184 338C294 338 347 275 347 187C347 112 305 39 221 39C160 39 119 71 97 89C88 97 80 96 71 90C59 80 50 67 49 57C48 45 52 36 66 23C80 9 123 -12 169 -12C221 -11 288 15 342 59C403 109 431 165 431 225C431 308 366 395 238 395C212 395 165 379 127 364L153 550Z"/></g></svg>). Methods which use the size of bones as an indicator of sex perform poorly on skeletal remains of individuals of unknown provenance. Methods which combine morphologic and metric techniques, that is, geometric morphometric analysis, may result in greater levels of consistency.

Ingrid Sierp

Maciej Henneberg

The Difficulty of Sexing Skeletons from Unknown Populations

Mar&#xed;a Soledad Gheggi

Ver&#xf3;nica Isabel Williams

Corrigendum to &#x201C;New Data on Food Consumption in Pre-Hispanic Populations from Northwest Argentina (ca. 1000&#x2013;1550 A.D.): The Contribution of Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of Human Bones&#x201D;

The paper focuses on the situational analysis of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and skilled birth attendants (SBAs) in Zimbabwe.  Against a background of a frail health care system, characterised by a shortage in skilled professionals, increased cost of medical care, and geographic and economic inaccessibility of health care centres among others, TBAs have remained a life-line for especially many rural women in maternal health care provision. Moreover, TBAs have also found their way into the urban areas of Zimbabwe. The shift in international policy and health funding toward skilled birth attendants (i.e., an accredited health professional) has materialized into concerted government efforts to increase numbers of both midwifery training institutions and midwives themselves. The call for SBAs, though a worthy ideal, is out of touch with the lived realities of pregnant women in low resource settings such as Zimbabwe. The study is concerned with situational analysis of TBAs and SBAs in maternal health care service provision in Zimbabwe analysing and evaluating policy considerations.

Naume Zorodzai Choguya

Traditional and Skilled Birth Attendants in Zimbabwe: A Situational Analysis and Some Policy Considerations

Successful existence and perpetuation of any species depend on its reproductive success. In case of humans, the theoretical proportion of males and females should be 1&#x2009;:&#x2009;1, but this equilibrium was disturbed in many parts of the world. What are the determinants of sex imbalance in human should be found out to combat the problem. The data were gathered for 227 countries. The sex ratio for human population of the world was found 101 males for 100 females, but it varies from 74 to 219 among the countries. The number of countries having higher number of females as compared to males is 132, as they have 99 or less males per 100 females, whereas in 71 countries the total population of males is greater than the females. And only 24 countries have balanced sex ratio. Regression analysis shows that fertility, rate of natural increase, mortality, and gender inequality index have inverse effect, and they account for 24.4&#x25;, 23.1&#x25;, 18.8&#x25;, 18.9&#x25;, 16.3&#x25;, 16.1&#x25;, and 5.1&#x25; of variability, respectively. There is great need to identify such countries and region where sex selective abortion is being practiced and to find out appropriate strategies to combat such problem.

Rajesh K. Gautam

Jyoti Jhariya

Pardeep Kumar

Globally Declining Population of Women Folk Causing Sex Imbalance Is a Serious Concern: An Analysis of Sex Ratio around the Globe

Without the presence of &#x201C;<i>caries sicca</i>,&#x201D; &#x201C;sabre shins,&#x201D; and nodes/expansion of the long bones with superficial cavitation, differential diagnosis of venereal syphilis and tuberculosis (TB) may be difficult as various infections produce similar responses. However, congenital syphilis has distinctive features facilitating a diagnosis. A case study of remains of a juvenile European settler (probably male, 8&#x2013;10 years old) (B70) buried in the 19th century and excavated in 2000 from the cemetery of the Anglican Church of St. Marys in South Australia is presented. B70 demonstrated that the two diseases might have been present in the same individual, congenital syphilis and TB. Widespread destruction of vertebral bodies and kyphosis-related rib deformations indicate advanced TB. Severe dental hypoplasia is limited to permanent incisors and first molars; there is pitting on the palate, periosteal reaction on the skull vault, and thinned clavicles. Dental signs are not limited to &#x201c;screwdriver&#x201d; central incisors and mulberry molars. Apical portions of the crowns of permanent upper, lower, central, and lateral incisors have multiple hypoplastic-disorganized defects; deciduous canines have severely hypoplastic crowns while possibly hypoplastic occlusal surfaces of lower deciduous second molars are largely destroyed by extensive caries. These dental abnormalities resemble teeth affected by mercurial treatment in congenital syphilitic patients as described by Hutchinson.

Stella Ioannou

Renata J. Henneberg

Timothy Anson

Diagnosis of Mercurial Teeth in a Possible Case of Congenital Syphilis and Tuberculosis in a 19th Century Child Skeleton

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Journal of Anthropology