Age‐at‐Death Estimates from a Disarticulated,Fragmented and Commingled Archaeological Battlefield Assemblage

Estimation of age‐at‐death is an important and challenging part of any investigation of human remains. Extensive research has been undertaken on this subject as demographic information contributes much to bioarchaeological and forensic work. Disarticulated, fragmentary and commingled human remains occur from a wide range of spatial and temporal contexts, and estimation of age‐at‐death can be particularly challenging in these collections. This study evaluated the impact of preservation on techniques that might be applied and their relative utility, using human remains from the site of the Smith's Knoll associated with the Battle of Stoney Creek, a War of 1812 collection from Ontario Canada with some supporting documentary evidence on age‐at‐death. Features assessed were the pubic symphysis, auricular surface and epiphyseal fusion in the innominate. An age‐at‐death estimate was produced for 16 out of 19 individuals considered; the highest minimum number of individuals (MNI) was 24 (right radius) from 2701 identifiable fragments. The pubic symphysis made no contribution to construction of a demographic profile, but as has been suggested previously epiphyseal fusion was useful in this respect. Results demonstrate that previous statements regarding preservation of the auricular surface and its utility in fragmented and poorly preserved collections need to be carefully evaluated. Although 129 fragments of innominate were recorded just one had an auricular surface and post auricular area that could be fully assessed. Transition Analysis was easier to apply than techniques developed previously, and findings from this study suggest that use of the forensic prior distribution could assist in assessment of battlefield assemblages. These results raise some valuable points that need to be considered in any future attempts to improve age‐at‐death estimates using the auricular surface, and important questions regarding expectations for estimation of age‐at‐death in disarticulated, fragmented and commingled collections of human bone. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age‐at‐death assessment using the os pubis and the auricular surface of the ilium: a test on an identified Asian sample

This paper reviews the results of blind tests of two morphological methods of age‐at‐death estimation. These tests were performed on a known age‐at‐death and sex sample taken from a collection of a Thai population. The first technique is based on the age related changes of the pubic symphysis according to the Suchey‐Brooks system, and the other concerns the metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the ilium elaborated by Lovejoy and colleagues. This is the first time that these methods have been tested on skeletal material from Asia. The results indicate that, for both methods, bias and inaccuracy increase with age and true age tends to be underestimated. As a consequence, age‐at‐death assessment based on these two techniques should be avoided on Asian archaeological series or forensic cases. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A test of Suchey–Brooks (pubic symphysis) and Buckberry–Chamberlain (auricular surface) methods on an identified Spanish sample: paleodemographic implications

Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology studies depend critically on the accuracy and reliability of age-estimation techniques. In this study we have evaluated two age-estimation methods for adults based on the pubic symphysis (Suchey–Brooks) and the auricular surface (Buckberry–Chamberlain) in a current sample of 139 individuals (67 women and 72 men) from Madrid in order to verify the accuracy of both methods applied to a sample of innominate bones from the central Iberian Peninsula. Based on the overall results of this study, the Buckberry–Chamberlain method seems to be the method that provides better estimates in terms of accuracy (percentage of hits) and absolute difference to the chronological age taking into account the total sample. The percentage of hits and mean absolute difference of the Buckberry–Chamberlain and Suchey–Brooks methods are 97.3% and 11.24 years, and 85.7% and 14.38 years, respectively. However, this apparently greater applicability of the Buckberry–Chamberlain method is mainly due to the broad age ranges provided. Results indicated that Suchey–Brooks method is more appropriate for populations with a majority of young individuals, whereas Buckberry–Chamberlain method is recommended for populations with a higher percentage of individuals in the range 60–70 years. These different age estimation methodologies significantly influence the resulting demographic profile, consequently affecting the biological characteristics reconstruction of the samples in which they are applied.