Abstract

The accurate assessment of age-at-death from skeletal remains is a key factor in both forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. Several methods of determining age at death are currently employed that utilize the age specific changes of several anatomical regions of the skeleton. However, as skeletal remains are often incomplete, it is useful to develop new methods based on previously unevaluated anatomy. This makes it more likely that sets of incomplete skeletal remains may include some feature that can be used to determine age-at death.

The purpose of this study was to develop standards for estimating age at death, using bone microstructure, that are applicable to a South Indian population. The sample consisted of 67 individuals (59 males and 8 females) of known age and sex. The sample was removed 5 cm lateral from the costo-chondral junction of the fourth riband slides were prepared according to standard histological methodology.

It was found that the number of Non-Haversian canals tend to reduce with age in a linear fashion which is also seen in the previous studies with coefficient of determination being 0.6703. Then the regression equation was calculated for estimating age using the number nonhaversian canal Y = –10.3637X + 70.37784 with standard error of estimate being ± 9.14 years.

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Funding