Estimations of age from tooth formation standards for a large (n = 282) sample of subadult skeletal remains from a 19th century historic cemetery sample were analyzed. The standards of Moorrees et al. (1963a,b) for the permanent and deciduous teeth, and Anderson et al. (1976) for the formation of permanent dentition were employed in a variety of combinations to calculate mean dental ages. Tests of accuracy and bias were made on a small sample (n = 17) of personally identified individuals, and age of attainment scores were compared to age of prediction scores for each individual. The resulting dental age distributions for the skeletal sample were compared to documented burial records for the cemetery to determine the representativeness of the skeletal sample. These comparisons showed little difference between age of attainment versus age of prediction methodologies. The standards of Moorrees et al. (1963a,b) were observed to provide the most accurate estimates of age with a standard deviation of one-half year. The standards of Anderson et al. (1976), while easier to use and more extensive, are problematic in that the original reference sample begins at three years of age, while the sample used by Moorrees and colleagues begins at birth. The skeletal age distributions compare well to the overall chronological age distribution for the cemetery. These results affirm that tooth formation age estimates for subadult skeletal remains from archaeological or forensic samples provide accurate assessments of age at both the individual and population level.

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The fortunate conjunction of a large skeletal sample (n=576) and reliable burial records (n=1,564) for St. Thomas' Anglican Church cemetery (1821-1874) makes it possible to make inferences about pattems of infant death in 19th-century Belleville, Ontario. Analysis of both sets of data indicates that males and females were equally likely to die during infancy and that environmental factors played an important role in Belleville's mortality profile. The parish records reveal elevated risks of illfant death in the summer, probably from the weanling diarrhea complex, owing to unsanitary conditions and the presence of acute infectious diseases in the town. The importance of acute causes is supported by patterns of skeletal growth and development that show that St. Thomas' infants were developmentally similar to modern North American children. The study also suggests an excavation bias in the skeletal sample, with an over-representation of burials from 1840 onward. L'heureuse combinaison d'un nombre important de squelettes (576) et de nombreux dossiers d'inhumation (1,564) relies au cimetiere de l'eglise anglicane St. Thomas (1821-1874) a rendu possible I' etablissement de pro fils de mortalite infantile a Belleville au XIXe siec/e. L'analyse des deux ensembles de donnees permet d' etablir que les personnes des deux sexes etaient tout aussi susceptibles de mourir en bas iige et que les facteurs environnementaux jouaient un role important dans Ia mortalite infantile a Belleville. Les documents paroissiaux revelent un risque de mortalite infantile plus grand en ete, probablement en raison de Ia diarrhee reliee au sevrage, occasionnee par de mauvaises conditions sanitaires et Ia presence dans Ia ville de maladies infectieuses aigues. L'importance des causes aigues est appuyee par le developpement similaire des squelettes des enfants en bas iige de St. Thomas et de ceux des enfants nord-americains d'aujourd'hui. L'etude suggere de plus que I'echantillonnage des sepultures fouillees est biaise en faveur d'inhumations posterieures a 1840.

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