The Utility of Carpals for Sex Assessment: A Preliminary Study C.E. Sulzmann, 1 J.L. Buckberry, 1 * and R.F. Pastor 2 1 Biological Anthropology Research Centre, Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK 2 Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 KEY WORDS metrical sexing; carpals; discriminant functions; Christ Church Spitalfields ABSTRACT Sex assessment is key when investigat- ing human remains either from medicolegal contexts or archaeological sites. Sex is usually assessed by examina- tion of the skull and pelvis, but this may not always be possible if skeletal material is fragmented or incomplete. The present study investigated the potential for using carpals to assess sex, utilizing 100 individuals of known- sex from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection, cura- ted at the Natural History Museum (London). A series of newly-defined measurements are applied to all eight car- pals. Inter and intraobserver error tests show that all measurements are satisfactorily reproduced by the first author and another observer. Paired t-tests to investi- gate side asymmetry of the carpals reveal that some, but not all, measurements are consistently larger on the right hand side than the left. Independent t-tests con- firm that all carpals are sexually dimorphic. Univariate measurements produce accuracy levels that range from 64.6 to 84.7%. Stepwise discriminant function analysis, devised separately for left and right sides, provides reli- able methods for assessing sex from single and multiple carpals, with an accuracy range of 71.7 to 88.6%. All functions derived are tested for accuracy on a sample of 20 additional individuals from the Christ Church, Spital- fields Collection. Am J Phys Anthropol 135:252–262, 2008. V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Sex assessment is not only the key to identifying mod- ern human remains from medicolegal contexts, but also important for the study of past populations for a more accurate demographic profile (Scheuer and Elkington, 1993, p 769). Confidence in the accuracy of sex predic- tion depends on both the completeness of the remains and on the degree of sexual dimorphism exhibited by the skeleton and within the population. Assessing sex is more reliable if a complete skeleton is available for ana- lysis, but this is not always the case in forensic or archaeological circumstances where skeletal remains are often incomplete or damaged. Sex prediction accuracy levels range from 90 to 100% if the entire skeleton is present for analysis (Stewart, 1979; Krogman and _ Is  can, 1986). However, if neither the skull nor the pelvis is available, then sex prediction accuracy levels can fall to 80% (Byers, 2002, p 171). Metric methods that employ nonpelvic postcranial bones to assess sex can be useful in such cases where the long bones, pelvis or skull are not present, or are highly fragmented (Robling and Ube- laker, 1997). In addition, DNA analysis can be used to determine sex, even in highly fragmented cases, provid- ing DNA survives (Brown, 1998). Many studies have addressed the use of metacarpals (Scheuer and Elkington, 1993; Lazenby, 1994; Falsetti, 1995; Smith, 1996; Stojanowski, 1999), metatarsals (Robling and Ubelaker, 1997; Smith, 1997) and tarsals (Steele, 1976; Riepert et al., 1996; Introna et al., 1997; Wilbur, 1998; Bidmos and Asala, 2003, 2004) in sex assessment of adult human skeletal remains. All of these are small, compact bones and are often recovered intact in archaeological or forensic material, even when larger bones are fragmented. Accuracy levels ranged from 71.7% to 94% for metacarpals (Scheuer and Elkington, 1993; Lazenby, 1994; Falsetti, 1995; Smith, 1996; Stoja- nowski, 1999), 63.8% to 92% for tarsals (Steele, 1976; Riepert et al., 1996; Introna et al., 1997; Wilbur, 1998; Bidmos and Asala, 2003, 2004) and 69.8% to 100% for metatarsals (Robling and Ubelaker, 1997; Smith, 1997). Given the success of these studies, and observable size difference in the wrists of males and females (Holman and Bennett, 1991), the present study was initiated to investigate the potential of using carpals for sex assess- ment. MATERIALS Analysis was undertaken on the named individuals from Christ Church, Spitalfields, London, curated at the Natural History Museum, London, UK. One hundred individuals (50 males and 50 females) were analyzed from this collection; the individuals were adult (over 18 years of age), of known age and sex, with no pathologi- cal or traumatic lesions affecting the carpals. The age ranges of selected individuals were 23–89 years for females, and 25–91 years for males. They represent the remains of Londoners, including several of French Huguenot ancestry, interred in the church crypt during the 18th and 19th centuries (Molleson and Cox, 1993). METHODS Initially, carpal measurements were defined using indi- viduals of unknown sex curated at the University of *Correspondence to: Dr. Jo Buckberry, Biological Anthropology Research Centre, Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK. E-mail: j.buckberry@bradford.ac.uk Received 11 June 2007; accepted 18 September 2007 DOI 10.1002/ajpa.20738 Published online 13 November 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). V V C 2007 WILEY-LISS, INC. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 135:252–262 (2008)