Interrelationship between various aging methods, and their relevance to palaeodemography (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Journal of forensic odonto-stomatology, 2011
Estimation of age at death is an essential part of reconstructing information from skeletal material. The aim of the investigation was to reconstruct the chronological age of an archaeological sample from Croatia using cranial skeletal remains as well as to make an evaluation of the methods used for age estimation. For this purpose, four age calculation methods were used: palatal suture closure, occlusal tooth wear, tooth root translucency and pulp/tooth area ratio. Cramer's V test was used to test the association between the age calculation methods. Cramer's V test showed high association (0.677) between age determination results using palatal suture closure and occlusal tooth wear, and low association (0.177) between age determination results using palatal suture closure and pulp/tooth area ratio. Simple methods like palatal suture closure can provide data about age at death for large number of individuals, but with less accuracy. More complex methods which require qualifi...
Forensic Science International, 2018
The present study tests the accuracy of commonly adopted ageing methods based on the morphology of the pubic symphysis, auricular surface and cranial sutures. These methods are examined both in their traditional form as well as in the context of transition analysis using the ADBOU software in a modern Greek documented collection consisting of 140 individuals who lived mainly in the second half of the twentieth century and come from cemeteries in the area of Athens. The auricular surface overall produced the most accurate age estimates in our material, with different methods based on this anatomical area showing varying degrees of success for different age groups. The pubic symphysis produced accurate results primarily for young adults and the same applied to cranial sutures but the latter appeared completely inappropriate for older individuals. The use of transition analysis through the ADBOU software provided less accurate results than the corresponding traditional ageing methods in our sample. Our results are in agreement with those obtained from validation studies based on material from across the world, but certain differences identified with other studies on Greek material highlight the importance of taking into account intra-and inter-population variability in age estimation.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2022
Age mimicry is a well-known phenomenon in the application of osteological ageestimation methods. Age mimicry refers to the fact that predicting age-at-death from a specific trait (age indicator) based on the relation observed in a specific reference sample implies that age estimates to some degree reflect the age structure of the reference sample. In particular, the estimated population mean in a target population in which an age-estimation method is applied is shifted towards the mean in the method-specific reference sample. Consequently, differences in population means between different age-estimation methods in the same target population may be due to differences in mean age of the reference samples used to develop the age-estimation methods. We aim at quantifying the expected magnitude for such differences. Fifteen different traditional age-estimation methods were applied to a sample of 675 adult individuals from the early medieval cemetery of Mannheim-Seckenheim. The relation of the observed estimated population age means and the mean age in the reference samples was analyzed by linear regression. We find that up to 80% of the variation in the estimated population age means can be explained by the variation of the mean age in the reference samples. Furthermore, differences in the magnitude of 3 to 4 years in the mean age between two reference samples can imply a 1-year difference in estimated target population age means. Because large differences in mean age between reference samples used to develop different ageestimation methods are common, some care is needed in interpreting differences between individual age estimates or population mean age estimates in cases where different age-estimation techniques are used.
Evaluation of the Suchey?Brooks Method for Aging Skeletons in the Balkans
Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2007
This study has been carried out to examine whether the Suchey-Brooks (S&B) methods could be successfully applied in age assessment of populations from the Balkans. The known-age sample consists of 33 females and 52 males pairs of pubic bones collected from the autopsy cases. Age estimation by S&B method showed an accuracy of 89.74% in males and 72.0% in females. Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between the actual age of the investigated individuals and age phases obtained by the S&B method, although the mean values of the sixth age category differed significantly compared with the original model. The most reliable indicators in both sexes were the relief of the symphyseal surface, lipping, symphyseal rim, and dorsal margin. The discriminating power of these indicators was the least reliable in distinguishing S&B phases 2 and 3. Based on these results, the appropriate recommendations for aging Serbian populations are made. There was a good agreement between two observers (k 5 0.726).
Bulletin der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Anthropologie 15(1–2): 45–55 (2009)
The paper presents a different approach for the calculation of age estimation based on observation of the cranial suture closure. Instead of a linear regression, multivariate statistics and specifically detrended correspondence analysis (dCA) is applied to the data. Two series of known sex and age were used, whereas the new approach was also applied to a large series of cranial material originating from an ossuary in Poschiavo, Switzerland. The aim of the study is to acquire more refined results for age estimation from cranial sutures, especially useful with poorly preserved or incomplete skeletal material. Taking the single observations as an assignment of multivariate statistics proved to be useful, and dCA has been demonstrated as a suitable method. Estimation of biological age based on skulls was possible with a precision of ±10 years. The accuracy of age estimations was improved when taking both surfaces of the skulls into account. Significant differences between the sex groups were recorded, therefore sex specific formula should be developed.
2018
Teeth can be used as accurate tools in age-at-death estimation in forensic cases. No previous data exist on estimating age from teeth in a modern Greek population. The aim of this study was to evaluate Lamendin’s and Prince and Ubelaker’s ageing methods on a modern Greek skeletal sample. In total, 1436 single-rooted teeth from 306 adult individuals (161 males and 145 females) were examined. Only measurements of periodontosis and translucency showed positive correlation with age. Results showed a bias - an overestimation for ages under 40 years and an underestimation over this age. However, the use of wider age groups proved to be more appropriate. Low values of error were observed for the group of middle-aged individuals. In conclusion, both methods can be considered accurate in estimating age-at-death of middle-aged individuals. This study provides more information about the accuracy and applicability of these dental methods on modern European populations.
The paper presents a different approach for the calculation of age estimation based on observation of the cranial suture closure. Instead of a linear regression, multivariate statistics and specifically detrended correspondence analysis (dCA) is applied to the data. Two series of known sex and age were used, whereas the new approach was also applied to a large series of cranial material originating from an ossuary in Poschiavo, Switzerland. The aim of the study is to acquire more refined results for age estimation from cranial sutures, especially useful with poorly preserved or incomplete skeletal material. Taking the single observations as an assignment of multivariate statistics proved to be useful, and dCA has been demonstrated as a suitable method. Estimation of biological age based on skulls was possible with a precision of ±10 years. The accuracy of age estimations was improved when taking both surfaces of the skulls into account. Significant differences between the sex groups were recorded, therefore sex specific formula should be developed.
Boldyrevka settlement and a burial ground nearby is an archeological site in southernmost part of Saratov city dated to XIV c. AD. Archeological data suggest a certain level of prosperity of at least a part of the population which was probably mixed in terms of ethnic origin. Unusual findings of coins dated to the time of Golden Horde’s civil war (after 1360s AD) might point to a particular status of the settlement.Craniometric data display high level of intragroup variation in many measurements as well as sharp morphological differences between two sexes which could be a manifestation of their different origin. Subsequent intergroup comparison shows that the closest samples to Boldyrevka males are those of the Golden Horde time population of Bolgar city, namely Ust’-Ierusalimsky and «Kulturny Sloy», the samples of ordinary people of the city rather than its elite class. This result is important since identifying specifically Bolgar artifacts in archeological record is a complicated task. At the same time the females seem to be much closer morphologically to several Ancient Russian samples though they show similarity to some Volga Bulgaria groups, including Ust’-Ierusalimsky, as well. But the closest to them is a sample from Nizhnyaya Studenka rural necropolis from the southernmost part of present day Saratov oblast’ also dated to XIV c. AD. That sample was previously shown to be similar according to odontological data to the Northwestern Russia population, both medieval and modern. Estimated stature in the sample is fairly high for a medieval group from that region and averages 165–167 cm for males and around 155 cm for females. But despite this relatively large body size the muscle attachment sites are moderately developed in both sexes barely reaching 2 points. Life expectancy is high compared to most of Eastern European medieval groups: 42.6 years for males, 37.7 years for females and 40.3 years overall (not including child mortality).Pathological markers frequencies in the sample are broadly similar to those in most medieval groups in the region while caries lesions and antemortem tooth loss frequencies (individual count) do not fall out of its range in medieval Eastern European samples. Noteworthy the percentage of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH)is low overall though there is a pronounced sexual dimorphism: no cases of LEH were found in females while in males its frequency is substantial. On the contrary, percentage of caries lesions and antemortem tooth loss suggest a stronger nutritional stress in females of the population.Taken together, the results of bioarcheological study of the sample point to relatively good (adjusting for medieval standards) life conditions of the group.
Age Estimation of the Human Skeleton
Age Estimation of the Human Skeleton is a collection of papers presented over a several year period at the Mountain, Desert, and Coastal Forensic Anthropology meetings. The purpose of the book, according to the editors, is to present some of the most recent work on age-at-death estimations from the human skeleton. It begins with a short paper on the history of age-at-death methodologies by Douglas Ubelaker. The remainder of the book is divided into three sections: (1) dental, (2) osteological, and (3) histological and multifactorial methods. The 17 chapters in these three sections are a mixture of reviews of the current methods (four chapters), evaluation studies of existing methods (seven chapters), and new or revised approaches in age-at-death (six chapters). The first section contains five chapters. Chapter 1 is a review of dental methods, whereas the next three chapters focus on dental root transparency for adult age-at-death estimation. Chapter 5 evaluates the dental age charts by Schour and Massler and by Ubelaker on recent children of European ancestry. Section 2 consists of seven chapters examining osteological indicators of age. It starts with a chapter on the nature and source of error in age-at-death estimation by Stephen Nawrocki (Chapter 6). Other chapters examine the accuracy and precision of macromorphoscopic changes in the sacrum, radiographic analysis of cartilage ossification, degenerative changes in the acetabulum, a comparison of the pubic symphysis methods, and two chapters on advances in determining age in fetal and subadult bones. Section 3 includes three chapters on histological methods and two chapters focusing on multifactorial methods. Chapter 13 examines the accuracy and precision of current histological methods. In Chapter 14, the authors investigate the use of frontal bone histology for estimating adult age, and in Chapter 15, Streeter presents her histological method for estimating age in subadults using developmental processes of the rib. One problem confronting biological anthropologists, especially in a medicolegal setting, is how to combine multiple indicators of age into a single summary age with a point estimate and valid range for the estimate. Uhl and Nawrocki (Chapter 16) test four methods (i.e., average, minimum and maximum overlapping ranges, and multiple linear regression) for developing a summary age based on multiple indicators. The final chapter of this section, and the book, compares the Todd, McKern and Stewart, Suchey- Brooks, and the ADBOU Age Estimation program for estimating age using pubic symphysis morphology. Accurate age-at-death estimation from human skeletal remains forms a vital part of the observations used in forensic osteological, bioarcheological, and paleodemographic analyses. However, age-at-death estimations are hindered by several biological and methodological issues. For these reasons, a book on recent advances in age-at-death methods has been needed. Age Estimation of the Human Skeleton does not address all the important issues related to age-at-death estimation, but it does take up some of them. One quality of the book is that it has chapters on methods for all life-stage categories, with good review chapters on methods for estimating age in fetal, subadult, and adult skeletal remains. As a collection of conference papers, the quality of the chapters range from fair to excellent. One thing I found missing was a summary chapter to pull all the works together. The new methods have generally been presented elsewhere, but this volume provides some more details and evaluates their validity. Age Estimation of the Human Skeleton might work for some instructors as a supplementary text in forensic anthropology or skeletal biology courses. There are a few chapters in this book that would be valuable for students in these courses to read. For example, Nawrocki’s chapter (Chapter 6) on error in age estimations is an excellent, but easy to read, overview of uncertainty that causes inaccuracy and imprecision in age-at-death estimations. Likewise, Chapter 16 by Uhl and Nawrocki discusses many of the statistical problems investigators must deal with when trying to determine age-at-death based on multiple indicators. Chapter 13 by Crowder and Pfeiffer is an excellent example of how to conduct a study testing the validity of age-at-death methods. Overall, Age Estimation of the Human Skeleton is well balanced and worth the relatively low price. Many forensic anthropologists will find it to be a good resource.