Estimation of age-at-death for adult males using the acetabulum, applied to four Western European populations.
Methods to estimate adult age from observations of skeletal elements are not very accurate and motivate the development of better methods. In this article, we test recently published method based on the acetabulum and Bayesian inference, developed using Coimbra collection (Portugal). In this study, to evaluate its utility in other populations, this methodology was applied to 394 specimens from four different documented Western European collections. Four strategies of analysis to estimate age were outlined: (a) each series separately; (b) on Lisbon collection, taken as a reference Coimbra collection; (c) on Barcelona collection, taken as a reference both Portuguese collections; and (d) on London collection taken as reference the three Iberian collections combined. Results indicate that estimates are accurate (83-100%). As might be expected, the least accurate estimates were obtained when the most distant collection was used as a reference. Observations of the fused acetabulum can be used to make accurate estimates of age for adults of any age, with less accurate estimates when a more distant reference collection is used.
Rissech
Carme
C
Departmento de Antropologia, Facultade de Ciências, Universidade de Coimbra, 3000-056 Coimbra, Portugal. Carme.Rissech@uab.es
Estabrook
George F
GF
Cunha
Eugenia
E
Malgosa
Assumpció
A
D000077:Acetabulum / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000885:Anthropology, Physical / Q000379:methods*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged