Sex Determination Using Tali Bones

The talus is an important bone used in forensic and archaeological cases for the determination of the sex of human remains because it is a preservational favored bone of the body. The study is designed to take the measurements and dimensions of dry tali to determine the sex as well as the sides of the bones. A total of 82 cadaveric bones were used. In each of the bones, measurements like tali length, breadth, widths, height, head height, head-neck length, trochlear breadth and length, length and breadth of the medial-lateral articular facet, and length and breadth of the posterior calcaneal articular surface were taken. Eleven parameters were measured on 82 bones (49 males and 33 females) obtained from the Anatomy Museum of the Anatomy Department, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21.0 was used to analyze the discriminant function of all the measurements that were taken. The statistical analysis showed that all measured parameters were sexually dimorphic. Forty-four right tali 44 and thirty-eight left tali were found. The average accuracy for all the bones was 80.5% following the stepwise procedures from the discriminant function analysis. While the accuracy for correctly classifying the bones into males was 71% and females was 94%, the female tali bones were most often correctly classified. In conclusion, the talus bone was shown to be useful for the determination of sex.

Key Words: talus/tali, dimorphic, cadaveric, archaeological, skeletal remains