Primary sexual characteristics are usually absent in the archeological record. The recovered secondary sex markers in bone morphology or mortuary context reflect the lifelong integrated biocultural experience of the individual man or woman. Internal patterns of variability within and between sexes can be recognized but are too frequently masked by traditional descriptive and univariate analyses. Fortunately, a detailed picture of life experience is gained by analyzing chemical composition (isotopic and elemental) of hard tissues using an analytical anthropology approach and by examining the variation in novel ways. Copyright 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved
