Sacral preauricular extensions and notches and dorsal pubic pitting as indicators of parity
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Abstract
The use of pelvic changes to make inferences of parity has been long debated, and renewed interest highlights how sacral skeletal markers could provide information on life histories of unidentified remains. This research examines the presence of sacral preauricular extensions (SPE), sacral preauricular notches (SPN), and dorsal pubic pitting (DPP) on the sacra and pubic bones of modern assigned females at birth (AFAB; parous=150; non-parous=97) and assigned males at birth (AMAB; n=150) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Donated Skeletal Collection. SPE, SPN, and DPP were scored as present or absent on adults with self-reported parity data. Because the sacroiliac joints and pubic symphysis are affected by postural changes and the laxening of ligaments during pregnancy and birth, a correlation between pregnancy, childbirth, and the appearance of the SPE, SPN, and DPP was expected. Of parous AFABs, 27.3% exhibited SPE, 17.3% exhibited SPN, and 41.3% showed DPP. Of non-parous AFABs, 20.6% exhibited SPE, 9.27% exhibited SPN, and 17.5% showed DPP. There was no instance of an AMAB exhibiting DPP, but 11.3% showed SPE and 13.3% showed SPN. Based on chi-squared tests, all comparisons showed statistically significant differences. This demonstrates that the appearance of SPE, SPN, and DPP are not randomly occurring. SPE and DPP are particularly informative for predicting parity which could have useful implications for studies of biomechanics, bioarchaeology, and forensics. One limitation of this study is that the skeletal collection was self reported and could have lacked information regarding the number of full-term pregnancies for each individual.
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2026