Age Estimation from the Human Os Coxa: A Test on a Documented Italian Collection*

Hens, Samantha M.; Rastelli, Elisa; Belcastro, Maria Giovanna

doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00818.x

Cited by 96 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Saunders et al [4] used a small, documented population from Belleville, Ontario and reported overall agreement with Lovejoy et al [24], but the reliability of the method decreased after age 45. On Portuguese and Italian individuals, Santos [21] and Hens and colleagues [10] found similar results. Using the Grant collection at the University of Toronto, Bedford and colleagues [27] found that the auricular surface method overestimated the ages of younger individuals and underestimated the ages of individuals over 50 by as much as 5-10 years.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…The Suchey-Brooks reference sample is large and includes a number of modern North American ethnic groups. However, despite its popularity, pubic symphyseal age assessment has not performed well in validation studies outside the U.S, including those based on modern French autopsied individuals [20], Canadian pioneers [4], and modern Portuguese and Italian individuals from cemetery collections [10,21]. These studies have demonstrated biased age estimates and difficulty in determining the age of individuals over 35 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They concluded that sex-and population-based differences have a considerable impact on the reliability of the method. However, for American samples, the resulting Suchey-Brooks method [19] is commonly considered to be the best age estimation method, and is widely used in forensic anthropology and bio-archaeological contexts [10]. The Suchey-Brooks reference sample is large and includes a number of modern North American ethnic groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[4][5][6][7][8]. However, the reference samples on which many of the original methods were based are among very few known age-at-death collections of sufficient sample size for testing purposes [9][10][11]. Documented reference samples are even rarer outside of the United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of three established age estimation methods on an adult Spanish sample

et al. 2011

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Most current methods for adult skeletal age-at-death estimation are based on American samples comprising individuals of European and African ancestry. Our limited understanding of population variability hampers our efforts to apply these techniques to various skeletal populations around the world, especially in global forensic contexts. Further, documented skeletal samples are rare, limiting our ability to test our techniques. The objective of this paper is to test three pelvic macroscopic methods (1-Suchey-Brooks; 2-Lovejoy; 3-Buckberry and Chamberlain) on a documented modern Spanish sample. These methods were selected because they are popular among Spanish anthropologists and because they never have been tested in a Spanish sample. The study sample consists of 80 individuals (55 ♂ and 25 ♀) of known sex and age from the Valladolid collection. Results indicate that in all three methods, levels of bias and inaccuracy increase with age. The Lovejoy method performs poorly (27%) compared with Suchey-Brooks (71%) and Buckberry and Chamberlain (86%). However, the levels of correlation between phases and chronological ages are low and comparable in the three methods (< 0.395). The apparent accuracy of the Suchey-Brooks and Buckberry and Chamberlain methods is largely based on the broad width of the methods' estimated intervals. This study suggests that before systematic application of these three methodologies in Spanish populations, further statistical modeling and research into the co-variance of chronological age with morphological change is necessary. Future methods should be developed specific to various world populations, and should allow for both precision and flexibility in age estimation. However, the levels of correlation between phases and chronological ages are low and comparable in the three methods (< 0.395). The apparent accuracy of the Suchey-Brooks and Buckberry and Chamberlain methods is largely based on the broad width of the methods' estimated intervals. This study suggests that before systematic application of these three methodologies in Spanish populations, further statistical modeling and research into the co-variance of chronological age with morphological change is necessary. Future methods should be developed specific to various world populations, and should allow for both precision and flexibility in age estimation.3

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of three established age estimation methods on an adult Spanish sample

et al. 2011

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“…Research on estimation methods for the age of adult skeletons is still a developing area in both fields. It is now well established that inter-individual variability of age-related bone changes are caused by a complex interaction between many factors, and that the observed pattern may be different depending on the population under study [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of age at death from the pubic symphysis and the auricular surface of the ilium using a smoothing procedure

Martins¹,

Oliveira²,

Schmitt³

2012

Forensic Science International

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We discuss here the estimation of age at death from two indicators (pubic symphysis and the sacro-pelvic surface of the ilium) based on four different osteological series from Portugal, GreatBritain, South Africa or USA (European origin). These samples and the scoring system of the two indicators were used by Schmitt et al. (2002), applying the methodology proposed by Lucy et al. (1996). In the present work, the same data was processed using a modification of the empirical method proposed by Lucy et al. (2002). The various probability distributions are estimated from training data by using kernel density procedures and Jackknife methodology. Bayes's theorem is then used to produce the posterior distribution from which point and interval estimates may be made. This statistical approach reduces the bias of the estimates to less than 70% of what was obtained by the initial method. This reduction going up to 52% if knowledge of sex of the individual is available, and produces an age for all the individuals that improves age at death assessment. Estimation of age at death from the pubic symphysis and the auricular surface of the ilium using a smoothing procedure AbstractWe discuss here the estimation of age at death from two indicators (pubic symphysis and the sacro-pelvic surface of the ilium) based on four different osteological series from Portugal, Great-Britain, South Africa or USA (European origin). These samples and the scoring system of the two indicators were used by Schmitt et al. (2002), applying the methodology proposed by Lucy et al. (1996). In the present work, the same data was processed using a modification of the empirical method proposed by Lucy et al. (2002). The various probability distributions are estimated from training data by using kernel density procedures and Jackknife methodology. Bayes's theorem is then used to produce the posterior distribution from which point and interval estimates may be made. This statistical approach reduces the bias of the estimates to less than 70% of what was obtained by the initial method. This reduction going up to 52% if knowledge of sex of the individual is available, and produces an age for all the individuals that improves age at death assessment.

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Age Evaluation from the Skeleton

Hackman

Black

Buck

2010

Age Estimation in the Living

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Age Estimation from the Human Os Coxa: A Test on a Documented Italian Collection*

Cited by 96 publications

References 13 publications

A comparison of three established age estimation methods on an adult Spanish sample

A comparison of three established age estimation methods on an adult Spanish sample

Estimation of age at death from the pubic symphysis and the auricular surface of the ilium using a smoothing procedure

Age Evaluation from the Skeleton

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