Age-at-death estimation of adult skeletal remains is a key part of biological profile estimation, yet it remains problematic for several reasons. One of them may be the subjective nature of the evaluation of age-related changes, or the fact that the human eye is unable to detect all the relevant surface changes. We have several aims: (1) to validate already existing computer models for age estimation; (2) to propose our own expert system based on computational approaches to eliminate the factor of subjectivity and to use the full potential of surface changes on an articulation area; and (3) to determine what age range the pubic symphysis is useful for age estimation. A sample of 483 3D representations of the pubic symphyseal surfaces from the ossa coxae of adult individuals coming from four European (two from Portugal, one from Switzerland and Greece) and one Asian (Thailand) identified skeletal collections was used. A validation of published algorithms showed very high error in our dataset-the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) ranged from 16.2 and 25.1 years. Two completely new approaches were proposed in this paper: SASS (Simple Automated Symphyseal Surface-based) and AANNESS (Advanced Automated Neural Network-grounded Extended Symphyseal Surface-based), whose MAE values are 11.7 and 10.6 years, respectively. Lastly, it was demonstrated that our models could estimate the age-at-death using the pubic symphysis over the entire adult age range. The proposed models offer objective age estimates with low estimation error (compared to traditional visual methods) and are able to estimate age using the pubic symphysis across the entire adult age range.

• MeSH
• data mining MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• soudní antropologie metody   MeSH
• symphysis pubica * MeSH
• určení kostního věku metody   MeSH
• zobrazování trojrozměrné MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

This paper introduces an automated method for estimating sex from cranial sex diagnostic traits by extracting and evaluating specialized morphometric features from the glabella, the supraorbital ridge, the occipital protuberance, and the mastoid process. The proposed method was developed and evaluated using two European population samples, a Czech sample comprising 170 crania reconstructed from anonymized CT scans and a Greek sample of 156 crania from the Athens Collection. It is based on a fully automatic algorithm applied on 3D models for extracting sex diagnostic morphometric features which are further processed by computer vision and machine learning algorithms. Classification accuracy was evaluated in a population specific and a population generic 2-way cross-validation scheme. Population-specific accuracy for individual morphometric features ranged from 78.5 to 96.7%, whereas population generic correct classification ranged from 71.7 to 90.8%. Combining all sex diagnostic traits in multi-feature sex estimation yielded correct classification performance in excess of 91% for the entire sample, whereas the sex of about three fourths of the sample could be determined with 100% accuracy according to posterior probability estimates. The proposed method provides an efficient and reliable way to estimate sex from cranial remains, and it offers significant advantages over existing methods. The proposed method can be readily implemented with the skullanalyzer computer program and the estimate_sex.m GNU Octave function, which are freely available under a suitable license.

• Klíčová slova
• Cranial sex diagnostic traits, European populations, Morphometric feature extraction, Sex discriminant models, Supervised machine learning,
• MeSH
• algoritmy * MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• kefalometrie * MeSH
• lebka anatomie a histologie   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus MeSH
• senioři nad 80 let MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• software MeSH
• soudní antropologie metody   MeSH
• určení pohlaví podle kostry metody   MeSH
• zobrazování trojrozměrné MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři nad 80 let MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika etnologie   MeSH
• Řecko etnologie   MeSH

Sex estimation is a task of utmost importance in forensic anthropology and bioarcheology. Along with the pelvic bone, the skull is the most important source of sexual dimorphism. On the human skull, the upper third of the face (i.e., the frontal bone) is one of the most significant sexually dimorphic structures useful in anthropological research, especially when studied by methods of virtual anthropology. This study was focused on sex estimation using the form and shape of the external surface of the frontal bone with or without the inclusion of its sinuses. The study sample consisted of 103 cranial CT images from a contemporary Czech population. Three-dimensional virtual models of the frontal bones and sinuses were analyzed using geometric morphometrics and multidimensional statistics: coherent point drift-dense correspondence analysis (CPD-DCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and support vector machine (SVM). The whole external frontal surface was significantly different between males and females both in form and shape. The greatest total success rate of sex estimation based on form was 93.2%, which decreased to 86.41% after crossvalidation, and this model identified females and males with the same accuracy. The best estimation based on shape reached a success rate of 91.26%, with slightly greater accuracy for females. After crossvalidation, however, the success rate decreased to 83.49%. The differences between sexes were significant also in the volume and surface of the frontal sinuses, but the sex estimation had only 64.07% accuracy after crossvalidation. Simultaneous use of the shape of the frontal surface and the frontal sinuses improved the total success rate to 98.05%, which decreased to 84.46% after crossvalidation.

• Klíčová slova
• Forensic anthropology, Frontal bone, Frontal sinuses, Geometric morphometrics, Sex estimation, Sexual dimorphism,
• MeSH
• čelní kost anatomie a histologie   diagnostické zobrazování   MeSH
• lebka anatomie a histologie   diagnostické zobrazování   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus MeSH
• soudní antropologie metody   MeSH
• určení pohlaví podle kostry metody   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH

The incomplete cranium discovered at the Zlatý kůň site in the Bohemian Karst is a rare piece of skeletal evidence of human presence in Central Europe during the Late Glacial period. The relative position of cranial fragments was restored and missing parts of the cranium were virtually reconstructed using mirroring and the Thin-plate splines algorithm. The reconstruction allowed us to collect principal cranial measurements, revise a previous unfounded sex assignment and explore the specimen's morphological affinity. Visual assessment could not reliably provide a sexual diagnosis, as such methods have been developed on modern populations. Using a population-specific approach developed on cranial measurements collected from the literature on reliably sexed European Upper Palaeolithic specimens, linear discriminant analysis confirmed previous assignment to the female sex. However, caution is necessary with regard to the fact that it was assessed from the skull. The Zlatý kůň specimen clearly falls within the range of Upper Palaeolithic craniometric variation. Despite the shift in cranial variation that accompanied the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Zlatý kůň skull exhibits a morphological affinity with the pre-LGM population. Several interpretations are proposed with regard to the complex population processes that occurred after the LGM in Europe.

• MeSH
• diskriminační analýza MeSH
• kefalometrie metody   MeSH
• lebka anatomie a histologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus * MeSH
• zkameněliny * MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH