Cover letter final version.

Cover Letter for American Journal of Physical Anthropology.


Dr. Christopher Ruff
Editor-in-Chief, AJPA
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street, Room 302A
Baltimore, MD 21205

Dear Dr. Ruff

We are submitting the manuscript titled: “Predictable value of cranial traits used in the visual assessment of sex: a Geometrics Morphometrics analysis”, a original investigation not publicated till now.

This investigation introduced the use of geometrics morphometrics (GM) to evaluate visual sex assessment methods in cranial traits. Furthermore, the diagnostic value of sexually dimorphic traits of the skull is reevaluated for the chilean population.

We selected five cranial traits used in visual sex assessment (glabella, mastoid process, zigomatic process of the temporal, zigomatic bone and orbital form) to be measured by 3D coordinates. For this features, the size & shape variabilty between female and male skulls in a sample with known sex it’s registered by GM to discriminate which traits were reliable sex estimators. Differently from previous publications, our reliability test rested in the application of GM metrics more than the interobserver error measurement showed by another investigators.

By publishing this study in the Journal of Phyical Anthropology, we would contribute to the improvement of skull visual sex assessment methods to be applied in fields like bioachaeology or forensic anthropology.

Sincerely,


Pablo Díaz Jarufe
Physical Anthropologist
Master student in Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Facultad de Medicina
Universidad de Chile

Cell phone: (56) 9 93594030
E-mail adress: pablo.diaz.jarufe@gmail.com