Nondestructive adult age at death estimation: Visualizing cementum annulations in a known age historical human assemblage using synchrotron X‐ray microtomography

Cabec, Adeline Le; Tang, Nancy; Rubio, Valentín Ruano; Hillson, Simon

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23702

Cited by 54 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 157 publications

(196 reference statements)

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“…During microscopic investigations, we noticed that annuli could be compacted until to become blurry and hardly distinguishable in elderly individuals as illustrated in Figure . Comparable intuition is occasionally shared in literature (Gauthier & Schutkowski, ; Le Cabec et al, ; Solheim, ; Stein & Corcoran, ). Pearson correlation confirms the significant relationship between chronological age and annuli distinctness ( r = −.189; p = .007; n = 200).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Not taking this imprecision into account can partly explains failures in some past studies (Lipsinic, Paunovich, Houston, & Robison, ; Miller, Dove, & Cottone, ). In a recent article, Le Cabec, Tang, Ruano Rubio, and Hillson () state that a concerning issue is “the low accuracy of estimate despite sufficient precision.” Therefore, precision can only be assessed by measuring the dispersion and becomes satisfactory when it leads to reduce the interval between real and estimated ages. The imprecision is then a key factor and induces larger age ranges that must be the rule for age‐at‐death estimation methods, including cementochronology.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age at death estimation by cementochronology: Too precise to be true or too precise to be accurate?

Bertrand

Cunha

Bécart

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: Cementochronology based on annual deposition of acellular cementum is acknowledged for its superior performance for estimating age-at-death but is also disregarded because of its suspicious effectiveness. This article aims to provide a standardized framework for the validation of the technique and to define and test cementochronology's performance and limitations. Materials and methods:To determine the boundaries of the cementum aging technique, we applied a certified protocol on a sample of 200 healthy canines from individuals of known age, sex, postmortem, and inhumation intervals from anthropological and anatomical collections. We scored readability and preservation of cementum and measured the agreement between estimates, i.e., the precision, and assessed the quality of the accordance between estimates and chronological age, i.e., the accuracy. To investigate the applicability on ancient material, 200 additional canines extracted from archeological assemblages were included. Accuracy and precision were analyzed for each age group in considering postmortem intervals and taphonomical conditions.Results: A strong correlation was found between chronological age and estimates (r = .927; p = .000) but results reveal an association between readability of incremental lines and chronological age (p < .05) and a notable difference in both precision and accuracy between individuals under and over 50 years. Results also demonstrate that taphonomy can be a serious obstacle increasing imprecision by a factor of three.Discussion: Improperly adopted, cementochronology can lead to precise but inaccurate estimations. If methodological, physiological, and taphonomical factors are taken into account, then, and only then, cementochronology will serve as a versatile and powerful tool for age-at-death estimation. K E Y W O R D Sage-at-death estimation, cementochronology, dental cementum, taphonomy

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age at death estimation by cementochronology: Too precise to be true or too precise to be accurate?

Bertrand

Cunha

Bécart

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…Although our novel methodology has resulted in highly positive correlations between physiologically stressful events and changes in cementum, there are a number of limitations regarding its applicability to the fossil or archeological record. The destructiveness of the method can be overcome by implementing non-destructive phase-contrast synchrotron X-ray imaging 44 which is sensitive not only to the density but also to the composition of an object 82 . The age and sex of the individual should be known.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The biological bases of the layered appearance of cementum, which has been argued to present a pair of one light and one dark band per year, is still debated 29,31,42,43 . A number of validation studies [44][45][46][47] using known-age human samples have achieved mixed results in accurately estimating age through counts of tooth cementum annulations (TCA). AEFC, unlike cellular cementum which dynamically responds to extrinsic factors such as mechanical load 21,32 , presents a slower but relatively constant growth rate 42,48,49 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Parturitions, menopause and other physiological stressors are recorded in dental cementum microstructure

Cerrito

Bailey

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The life history pattern of recent humans is uniquely derived in many of its aspects including an extended post-reproductive lifespan combined with short interbirth intervals. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the evolution of this unusual pattern. However most have been difficult to test due to the fragmentary nature of the hominin fossil record and the lack of methods capable of inferring such later life history events. In search of a method we tested the hypothesis that the physiologically impactful events of parturition and menopause are recorded in dental cementum microstructure. We performed histomorphological analyses of 47 teeth from 15 individuals with known life history events and were able to detect reproductive events and menopause in all females. Furthermore, we found that other stressful events such as systemic illnesses and incarceration are also detectable. Finally, through the development of a novel analytical method we were able to time all such events with high accuracy (R-squared = 0.92).

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“…Adult age estimation plays an important role in forensic practice. Estimating age at death of an adult is an essential step for victim identification in mass disasters and criminal investigations and for exploring the demography of past cultures in archeology (Le Cabec, Tang, Ruano Rubio, & Hillson, ). To investigate disaster and crime, it is essential to estimate adult age rapidly and effectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age estimation by multidetector computed tomography of cranial sutures in Chinese male adults

Fan

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: This study aimed to explore whether computed tomography (CT) images of cranial sutures can contribute to adult age estimation in Chinese Han individuals. Materials and methods: This study was based on cranial CT scans of 230 ChineseHan males aged 23.33-76.93 years. A total of 160 images from 16 suture segments were scored after volume reformation and multiplanar reconstruction in each individual. Decision tree regression, linear support vector regression, Bayesian ridge regression, and gradient boosting regression were developed for adult age estimation by a training set using leave-one-out cross-validation and further evaluated by the test set. The inaccuracy and bias were calculated to evaluate the four models and the previously used models from the literature. Results:The degree of suture closure was associated with adult age. The minimum inaccuracy of the test set was 7.73 years obtained by linear support vector regression, while the inaccuracy of previous simple linear regression models was 13.09 and 10.97 years. The accuracy was higher in the age group from 40.00 to 59.99 years compared to the other age groups.Discussion: The accuracy of our models for adult age estimation was superior to those in previous studies based on cranial sutures. Hence, the application of novel statistical data mining tools helps to improve aging issues. Nevertheless, age estimation of adults should be combined with other methods, since the accuracy level is still not satisfactory. K E Y W O R D Scranial sutures, data mining, forensic anthropology, multidetector computed tomography, skeletal age determination

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Nondestructive adult age at death estimation: Visualizing cementum annulations in a known age historical human assemblage using synchrotron X‐ray microtomography

Abstract: Numbers: 20 text pages plus 15 pages of bibliography, 11 figures, 4 tables, 1 graph, 8 Supplementary files.

Cited by 54 publications

References 157 publications

Age at death estimation by cementochronology: Too precise to be true or too precise to be accurate?

Age at death estimation by cementochronology: Too precise to be true or too precise to be accurate?

Parturitions, menopause and other physiological stressors are recorded in dental cementum microstructure

Age estimation by multidetector computed tomography of cranial sutures in Chinese male adults

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