Osteological Sex Estimation Versus Proteomic Sex “Determination”: What Effect Do Our Techniques Have on the Way We View the People of the Past?

In this paper, we discuss how peptide analysis of historic New Zealand cemetery samples has both changed our interpretations and added to our understanding of these populations. We show what can happen when osteobiographies are constructed for individuals for whom osteological sex estimation was potentially inaccurate. We also highlight the advantages of peptide analysis in identifying individuals, particularly non-adults for whom osteological sex estimation is not possible.