The objective of this study is to present the characteristics of a collection of identified infants and young children housed in the Laboratory of Anthropology of the University of Granada, Spain. The sample, which is still being enlarged, is currently composed of 230 complete skeletons aged from 5 months of gestation to 8 years, with a majority below 1 year. It mainly dates from the mid-20th century. The state of preservation is very good, and antemortem information is available from burial and death certificates, among other documents. Our sample makes an important contribution to the relatively few collections available in the world for investigating the osteological development of the skeletons of infants and young children from a physical anthropological perspective.

This study provides regression equations for estimation of age of infants from the dimensions of their developing deciduous teeth. The sample comprises 97 individuals of known sex and age (62 boys, 35 girls), aged between 2 days and 1,081 days. The age-estimation equations were obtained for the sexes combined, as well as for each sex separately, thus including "sex" as an independent variable. The values of the correlations and determination coefficients obtained for each regression equation indicate good fits for most of the equations obtained. The "sex" factor was statistically significant when included as an independent variable in seven of the regression equations. However, the "sex" factor provided an advantage for age estimation in only three of the equations, compared to those that did not include "sex" as a factor. These data suggest that the ages of infants can be accurately estimated from measurements of their developing deciduous teeth.

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