Q: how do scientist discover gender of Homo sapiens and other ancient fossils? I was also wondering how they discover the health and age of these old remains. ah-h-h it seems yahoo has blocked my words, i ment early humans like hominids
A: We don't have DNA for most of the fossils. It is quite rare. For many decades the determination of gender has been made by knowing the gender differences in human and ape skeletons, and correlating it to the fossil finds. Females have wider hips and a larger opening in the pelvis. They have a different angle of the head of the femur, and a different curve of the lower spine. There are other differences in the skull, etc, that I cannot recall offhand. They judge age by wear on the teeth. They can see the effects of arthritis directly on the bones. Some diseases leave traces directly on the bones.
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