Sex Difference in the Shape of the Mastoid Process in

Norma occipitalis and its Importance to the Sex

Determination of the Human Skull

by

Hiroshi Hoshi

Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo

(Director : Prof. Dr. Tsunetaro Fujita)

Introduction
It has been recognized that the shape of the mastoid process
should be considered in determining the sex of the human skull.
Br o c a (1857) suggested that when skulls were placed on the desk,
the male might rest on the mastoid processes and the female on
occipital condyles or other portions of the skull. Accordingly,
Bartels (1897) examined 38 female German skulls and found 4
skulls resting on the mastoid processes and also one of 5 female
Malayan skulls did so. Later, Martin (1928) pointed out that
the length and volume of the process were significant. K e en (1950)
found that in 100 Cape-Coloured skulls the mastoid process was
21-37 mm long in the male and 19-33 mm long in the female. In
142 Japanese skulls Ii i r a t a (1957) found the process to be 22.0-
41.0 mm long in the male, and 22.5-34.0 mm long in the female.
S u z u k i, Professor of Anthropology in the University of Tokyo,
noted a new type of sex difference in the occipital view of this
process, which was personally communicated to the present author
and is explained in detail in the following Chapter. The present
paper is concerned with a statistical investigation on this difference
in the mastoid process in Japanese skulls and critical discussions
on Br oc a's and Marti n's remarks.

Materials and Method

Materials were comprised of 62 male and 41 female skulls of

adult modern Japanese. They constitute a part of osteological
* To Prof . Dr. T e i z o Oga w a for his sixtieth Birthday.

309
310 Hiroshi Hoshi

specimens in the Department of Anatomy, University of Tokyo.

Classification of the shape of the mastoid process

In norma occipitals, Suzuki classified the shape of the mastoid
procoss according to two types : (1) the first type is that with a
vertically directed apex, and that which in profile has a concavity
immediately above the base of the mastoid process (Fig. 1 left
bottom). This is characteristic of male skulls and is called M type
in the present paper. Superior to the mentioned concavity, another
concavity is commonly present. It is due to the strong development
of the temporalis muscle and therefore always appears above the
supramastoid crest, whereas the first-mentioned concavity significant
for the present classification is always found inferior to the crest.
In most cases, the process associated with concavity is massive and
long, and has a rugged surface. (2) The other type has a medially
directed apex, and a smooth line in profile extending from the
temporal part to the apex of the mastoid process (Fig. 1 left top).
This is characteristic of femal skulls and is called F type. In most
of this type, the process is slender and often has a relatively smooth
surface.
There is also an intermediate type with a vertically directed
apex and a smooth profile line extending to the top of the process
without concavity or convexity (Fig. 1 left middle). This may be
called N type. Apparently this type is intermediate between

Fig. 1. Classification of the shape of the mastoid process and the incidence
of each type. Shaded column : male ; blank : female.
 Sex Difference in the Shape of the Mastoid Process 311

S u z u k is two types. The present study concerns the incidence of

the N as well as M and F types in both sexes.

Results and Discussion

In male skulls, M type is found in 69.4%, N type in 27.4%, and

F type in only 3.2%. In female skulls, on the contrary, F type is
found in 46.4%, N and M types 26.8% respectively (Fig. 1 right and
Table 1). It is noteworthy that F type is considerably rare in male

Table 1.

skulls, whereas M-type process is seen in more than one-fourth of

female skulls. Analysis of the findings reveals another interesting
result. If 100 skulls of each sex are examined, it will be
proved that among ca. 96 skulls with M-type process, ca. 69 are
from males (71.4%) ; among ca. 50 skulls with F-type process, ca.
46 are from females (93.5%) (see Table 1 italic figures). Thus it
is concluded that F-type process is so frequent in female skulls
that one may assign the skull with F-type process to the female
sex with high probability (less than 7% error), while only about
71% of the skulls with M-type process are of males ; the probability
of error is about 29%. N type is found equally in both sexes.
Therefore, when N type appears, sex determination by the process
type must be abandoned.
It was already demonstrated by Bartels that Br o c a's method
has little value for the sex determination of the human skull. The
present author also employed this method in the Japanese skulls
and found that only 30.6% of 62 male skulls rested on the mastoid
processes and 24.4% of 41 female skulls did so ! Therefore this
method is inadequate as a criterion of the sex determination.
312 Hiroshi Hoshi

As for Marti n's method, Keen and H i r at a proved it to

be more valuable than Br o c a's method, but the values of the
length of the process overlap widely so that the practical value of
this method as a criterion of the sex determination is limited. The
present author classified the massiveness of the process macroscopi-
cally, without measurements, into three grades : "massive ", " medi-
um ", and " slender ", and investigated the frequency of each in the
present materials. It followed that repeated examinations by the
same examiner gave rise to different results, and the " medium "
was most frequent in both sexes ; Table 2 shows the results of one
examination.

Table 2.

On account of these considerations S u z u k is method, slightly

modified by the present author, is most useful for the sex determina-
tion of the human skull. It must be remembered, however, that by
itself this method cannot guarrantee the infallibility. It is still
true that he who tries to determine the sex of unknown skulls must
examine several appropriate portions and must take several kinds
of measurements.

Summary

The author studied the sex differences in the shape of the

mastoid process in norma occipitalis, which was first noticed by
S u z u k i but defined by the present author. This difference involves
the direction of the apex of the process as well as the profile line
of the skull from the temporal part to the top of the process.
1. Examinations of 62 male and 41 female Japanese skulls revealed
that 69.4% of the male skulls had M (male)-type process and 46.3%
of the female had F (female)-type one. Among skulls with M-type
process, 71.4% were male, whereas among skulls with F-type process,
 Sex Difference in the Shape of the Mastoid Process 313

93.6% were female. Therefore one may assign the skull with F-
type process to the female sex with high probability, and the skull
with M-type process to the male sex with slightly lower probability.
2. B r o c a's and Marti n's methods were tested on the same
materials and it was found that the latter might be useful but only
supplement ; the former had to be rejected.
3. It was concluded that among three methods under consideration,
the modified S u z u k is method was most useful for sex determina-
tion of the human skull.

Acknowledgement

The author is indebted to Dr. T s u n e t a r o F u j i t a, Professor

of Anatomy, University of Tokyo, as well as to Dr. H i s a s h i
S u z u k i, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tokyo, for their
valuable directions and criticism. A word of appreciation is also
expressed to Dr. H a r u m i Ter ad a, Assistant Professor of Anato-
my, University of Tokyo, for his advice in preparing the manu-
script.

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H i r at a, N a o y u k i (1957): Studies in the sexual differences of the skull (Japanese
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K e e n, J. A. (1950): A study of the differences between male and female skulls.
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Marti n, R. (1928): Lehrbuch der Anthropologie. 2 Aufl. Bd. 2: 737-741.Stuttgart.
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