Discriminant function analysis versus morphognostic sex determination of 637 crania from the Poschiavo ossuary

The paper presents a new discriminant function (DFA) for sex determination from cranial skeletal material specifically suitable for Swiss alpine populations. The formula was developed on a large cranial series (n=637) originating from an ossuary in Poschiavo Switzerland (16th–19th century AD). The accuracy of the new DFA was compared to other published DFA (Giles and Elliot 1963; Henke 1973; Kajanoja 1966; Brùžek and Velemínský 2006) whereas a validation of all formulae was made on skeletal material mainly from Switzerland, southern Germany and Austria (12 series; ca. 1400 individuals; 9th mil. BC–19th century AD). The new DFA proved accurate with a high degree of concordance with morphognostic sex determination (79%) compared to the other DFA (69%–83%). Considering also that with the Poschiavo DFA more individuals could be classified based on the small number of necessary measurements, the present DFA proved especially valuable. The high accuracy levels and the fact that few measurements are needed make the proposed DFA suitable for Swiss alpine populations, applicable to a large amount of individuals and less timeconsuming.