Investigation on the reliability of determining sex from the human os zygomaticum

The diagnosis of sex using the skull is based mainly on morphological findings. The differential expression of these characteristics is described almost identically in the relevant literature. The descriptions date back to the 18th century and stern from observations of inhomogenous investigations, partly with very small samples. Therefore, it is necessary to re-assess the significance of each characteristic. The objective of the present study is to determine the significance that can be attributed to different morphological characteristics and metric data of the os zygomaticum used in sex diagnostics from a current point of view. A collection of 138 recent human skulls was investigated. Both examination of the morphological characteristics as well as metric analysis of the cheekbone in the test group revealed that both methods were suitable for differentiating sex, but due to their variability they cannot be regarded as sufficiently reliable.