The Effects of Bilateral Asymmetry in Long Bone Length on Juvenile Age Predictions (original) (raw)

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.