Sex Determination from Fragmented Hip Bones Using the Bruzek Method: Experience in a Historic Necropolis in Provence (france)

The most reliable methods of determining sex from skeletal remains are based on examination of the hip bone. However, hip bone specimens may be incomplete or fragmented. The purpose of this study was to identify the best-preserved regions of the hip bone with the greatest diagnostic value for sex determination. The Bruzek method of visual sex determination using 11 anatomic hip bone features was applied to a sample of 963 hip bones from the Notre-Dame-du-Bourg necropolis dating from the fourth to seventeenth centuries AD in Provence (Digne, France). Assessment of the value of various regions of the hip bone for sex determination in function of the degree of preservation showed that the ischiopubic pelvis complex was highly informative but often unavailable whereas the posterior region of the os coxae was as informative and much better preserved. This finding indicates that priority care should be given to the posterior coxal bone during exhumation.