(Newser)
–
Anthropologists comparing ancient skulls to modern ones say it's getting harder to tell the girls from the boys. North Carolina State researchers who examined skulls from Spain and Portugal going back to the 16th century say that the differences between male and female specimens have diminished over the ages, reports DailyTech. Specifically, modern women have larger facial structures, closer to the size of men's, possibly because of better nutrition.
"This has applications for characterizing older remains," says the lead researcher, according to Science Daily. "Applying 20th-century standards to historical remains could be misleading, since sex differences can change over time—as we showed in this study."
