A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 33-35. - 1990-1992 (Nyíregyháza, 1993)

László Szathmáry: Importance of Pre-auricular Region Sex Determination (in the analysis of a medieval sample from NE Hungary) (lektorálta: Marcsik Antónia)v67

Importance of Pre-auricular Region in Sex Determination (in the analysis of a medieval sample from NE Hungary) LÁSZLÓ SZATHMÁRY In memóriám Prof. Dr. János Nemeskéri Introduction Pre-auricular region — mainly pre-auricular sulcus — is one ofthose characteristic features on the basis of which the sex of skeleton remains is usually determined. Besides establishing sex, the requirement of describing the degree of sexualization has grown an equally significant component in biological reconstructions of ancient populations (NEMESKÉRI 1962.). In relation to pre-auricular sulcus most studies lay particular stress on the fact that this feature can be much more met with females and seldom if ever with males. If this should manifest itself in males, it appears shallow and narrower than in females (OLIVIER 1965., BASS 1971., FEREMBACH-SCHWIDETZKY-STLOUKHAL 1979., UBELAKER 1978., BENNETT 1987., SJ0VOLD 1988.). St. HOYME and IßCAN (1989.) also emphasize that the preauricular sulcus is narrow and shallow in children and males, represents a growth scar, and its greater width and depth in adult women, along with structural details, suggests that it represents the site of posterior iliac widening. Developing this train of thoughts from an ontogenetic point of view it can be mentioned that the sacroiliac joint is more movable in females, therefore the growth in the width of the pelvis may also exert an influence on the development of the sulcus next to the auricular surface. The examinations of HOUGHTON (1974., 1975.), ULLRICH (1975.) and KELLEY (1979.) performed on multiparas also refer to the same relation in an indirect way. So that we could describe the sexualization of a human skeleton we need a multiple scale for the distribution of secondary sex characters. First GENOVES 67