jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThe lateral angle method of sex estimation is tested on an archaeological population with genetic sex. Casts of the internal auditory canal were made using a quick drying impression material on 90 individuals (76 adults and 14 nonadults) from Anglo‐Saxon and Medieval Cambridgeshire. The anterior and posterior angles of the internal auditory canal were measured and the relationship of the angle to genetic sex was tested. The posterior angle failed intraobserver error tests, and only the anterior angle could be analysed. Using the previously published section point for unburnt remains (45°), the method did not adequately distinguish between the sexes. Furthermore, the difference between males and females was insufficient to create population‐specific discriminant functions. The anterior angle does not meet the requirements for an osteological method of sex estimation, exhibiting no statistical correlation with genetic sex in this population.</jats:p>