Determination of race and sex of the human skull by discriminant function analysis of linear and angular dimensions.

The race and sex of the human skull can be determined by craniometry. In this paper we suggest that a large number of craniometric measurements does not necessarily give the best possible discrimination for race and test the performance of subsets of variables drawn from various skull regions, or extracted mathematically on the basis of their discriminatory power. We also suggest that the best discriminators for race are not necessarily the best for sex, and that skulls of unknown provenance are best tested first for race and then for sex, using different variables for each purpose.