106 • Douglas W. Owsley 



determined as Nl = C/T. This score is 

 essentially two-dimensional and de- 

 scribes the proportion of the total width 

 attributed to the cortex. Cross-sectional 

 area measurements were calculated as 

 CA = 0.785 {T- - M=) (Gam 1970). 

 This procedure assumes that the femur 

 has an approximately circular cross- 

 sectional geometry in both the endo- 

 steal and subperiosteal surfaces. The 

 assumption of a cylindrical shape is not 

 necessarily valid for the femur (Van 

 Gerven et al. 1969). Nevertheless, it is 

 useful to consider cortical area as an- 

 other indicator of bone status because 

 this value represents absolute bone 

 mass and potential calcium reserves (J. 

 Dequeker, pers. comm.). As judged 

 from studies based on the second meta- 

 carpal, cortical area shows the highest 

 correlation with the ash content of the 

 bone relative to the other measurements 

 and indices (Dequeker 1976). Max- 

 imum femoral lengths (ML) were mea- 

 sured on the radiographs using a metric 

 ruler. Sample differences were evalu- 

 ated using the general linear models 

 analysis of variance statistic presented 

 inSAS(1985). 



Results 



Sample means and standard deviations 

 are presented in Table 2 by sex for each 

 of the four time periods. The means for 

 cortical thickness and Nordin's Index 

 are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. Re- 

 sults of the analysis of variance com- 

 parisons by sex and time period are 



given in Table 3. As expected, sex dif- 

 ferences are highly significant for the 

 three primary variables (i.e., M, T, 

 ML) and also for cortical thickness and 

 area, but not for Nordin's Index. Tem- 

 poral differences are evident in each 

 variable with the exception of max- 

 imum length. The femoral lengths of 

 these four samples are similar. In con- 



Table 1. Archaeological sites, sample sizes and time periods 



Table 2. Means and standard deviations for femoral cortex and maximum length measurements by sex and 

 time period 



a. M, medullary cavity diameter; T, total subperiosteal diameter; C, cortical thickness; NI, Nordin's index; CA, 

 cortical area; ML, maximum length. 



Zagreb Palenpathoipgy Symp. I98fl 



