Asymmetry of mandibular dimensions in European skulls.

Abstract

Eighteen mandibular dimensions (mm) in sex-determined, 10th-12th-century European skulls from burial sites in South-Eastern Hungary were examined to discover whether differences exist between the right and left sides. There was a statistically significant difference in only one dimension, the smallest sagittal diameter of the mandibular neck, in both males and females. The frequencies with which the various 18 dimensions were identical between right and left sides ranged from 39.9% to 82.0% in males, and from 45.9% to 83.2% in females. The examined individual dimensions appeared to be smaller on the right side in 7.0% to 33.7% (mean 19.1%) of the male cases, and in 7.1% to 29.9% (mean 17.9%) of the females, while the right side was larger in 7.7% to 50.9% (mean 22.3%) of the males and in 7.9% to 54.3% (mean 22.5%) of the females. In conclusion, asymmetry of the left and right sides was found between the measured individual mandibular dimensions on average in 41.4% of the males and 40.4% of the females.