Population variation in osteological aging criteria: an example from the pubic symphysis.
A fundamental assumption made by skeletal biologists is that both the pattern and rate of age-related morphological changes observed in modern reference populations are not significantly different than in past populations. In this brief exploration, the composition of a single reference and two independent, known-age, target samples are evaluated for the pubic symphysis. Differences in the timing of age-progressive changes between the reference and target samples are observed, and in particular, females demonstrated a pattern that was fundamentally different from the reference sample. These results serve as a cautionary note for the use of osteological aging criteria and issues of representativeness for modern standards.
Hoppa
R D
RD
Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada. hoppard@ms.umanitoba.ca
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton; D000368:Aged; D000885:Anthropology, Physical / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011631:Pubic Symphysis / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results