A recent paper in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology,  co-authored by KLI group leader Barbara Fischer, challenges the long-held belief that certain pelvic bone features—often called "scars of childbirth"—can reveal a woman's history of pregnancy and birth. Researchers used CT scans to examine the pelvises of women with and without children, as well as men, and found that these bony traits were just as common in women who had never given birth as in those who had. The preauricular sulcus, a groove on the pelvic bone, was found in about half of all women but not in men, suggesting it is linked to sex rather than childbirth. Other features showed no clear connection to pregnancy or delivery. While urinary incontinence was more frequent among women who had given birth, it did not strongly correlate with pelvic bone changes. The study concludes that pelvic skeletal features are unreliable as markers of reproductive history, urging caution in their use for anthropological research.

Publication:
Catic, A., L.Waltenberger, K. E.Pink, et al. 2026. “Exploring Pelvic Changes: Do Pregnancy and Birth Leave Scars?.” American Journal of Biological Anthropology189, no. 4: e70248. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70248