Abstract
Objectives:
To improve age estimation for adult skeletons, what experienced observers see is disaggregated into age-informative structures to estimate transitions from early to late trait stages. The age-of transitions can potentially yield better age estimates than are produced by conventional methods used in forensic and archaeological investigations.
Methods:
Age-of-transitions from early to late morphological stages were estimated for 47 cranial and postcranial bony structures, for a total of 69 transitions. Skeletons from four continents (N=1638) provided a large and diverse sample suitable for developing a global age-estimation method.
Age-of-transition curves were generated for skeletal traits through GLM, GLM using log ages, and GAM.
Results:
Look-up tables are provided for age-estimation purposes. For each transition, the ages when 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, and 95 percent of the sample had reached the more advanced of a pair of stages are estimated for both sexes grouped together. When transitions take place at different times for men and women, both male and female age-of-transitions are reported.
Conclusions:
A broad array of anatomical structures are informative about adult age. When classified dichotomously (i.e., early and late stages), skeletal features yield little information about age. But collectively they have the potential of greatly improving age estimates for adult skeletons, to judge from the performance of experience-based age estimates. The age-of-transition for individual traits are the empirical backbone of ongoing work to revise a version of transition
analysis based solely on pelvic joints and cranial sutures (Boldsen et al., 2002).
To improve age estimation for adult skeletons, what experienced observers see is disaggregated into age-informative structures to estimate transitions from early to late trait stages. The age-of transitions can potentially yield better age estimates than are produced by conventional methods used in forensic and archaeological investigations.
Methods:
Age-of-transitions from early to late morphological stages were estimated for 47 cranial and postcranial bony structures, for a total of 69 transitions. Skeletons from four continents (N=1638) provided a large and diverse sample suitable for developing a global age-estimation method.
Age-of-transition curves were generated for skeletal traits through GLM, GLM using log ages, and GAM.
Results:
Look-up tables are provided for age-estimation purposes. For each transition, the ages when 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, and 95 percent of the sample had reached the more advanced of a pair of stages are estimated for both sexes grouped together. When transitions take place at different times for men and women, both male and female age-of-transitions are reported.
Conclusions:
A broad array of anatomical structures are informative about adult age. When classified dichotomously (i.e., early and late stages), skeletal features yield little information about age. But collectively they have the potential of greatly improving age estimates for adult skeletons, to judge from the performance of experience-based age estimates. The age-of-transition for individual traits are the empirical backbone of ongoing work to revise a version of transition
analysis based solely on pelvic joints and cranial sutures (Boldsen et al., 2002).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | American Journal of Biological Anthropology |
| ISSN | 2692-7691 |
| Publication status | Submitted - 22. Dec 2023 |
Keywords
- Transition Analysis
- Age Estimation
- Age-of-Transition Curves
- Skeletal Structures