Age estimation - Girdles

• Age Estimation

  •Throughout life, skeletal elements undergo sequential chronological change

  • Infancy – appearance of skeletal elements, ossification centres

  • There are primary and secondary centres, in early stages, centres identified by anatomical position only. Majority of secondary centres form after birth.

  • Childhood and adolescence – bones and teeth continue to appear, epiphyses form and fuse

  • Even after 20 years bones continue to fuse, metamorphose and degenerate

  • This progression forms the foundation for studies of skeletal aging
• Ossification and Fusion

  • Appearance

  –Ilium

  –Ischium

  –Pubis

  • Fusion

  –Ischiopubic ramus

  –acetabulum

  • Secondary centres

  e.g. Age?

  If you have the ilium, ischium and pubis and they are all unfused. ~ 5 mths (prenatal) – 11 yrs

  If the ischiopubic ramus has fused? ~ 5 yrs – 18 yrs

  
• Pectoral Girdle

  • Appearance

  –Clavicle

  –Scapula

  –Coracoid

  • Fusion

  –Coracoid

  • Secondary centres

  –Clavicle 2

  –Scapula 7+

  
• Age Estimation

  e.g.

  Shaft, no epiphyses?

  7wks (prenatal) – 20yrs

  Shaft and medial epiphysis not fused?

  13yrs – 30yrs (widest possible age range)

  If the lateral end was fused?

  18yrs – 30yrs (widest possible range)

  
• Age Estimation - Clavicle

  •Age estimation in the living

  • Imaging modalities

  • Ethical?
• Age estimation: Pubic Symphysis

  • Metamorphosis of the symphyseal surface is one of the most widely used indicators of age at death

  • Age related changes occur after adult stature has been achieved

  • Age related changes of the pubic symphysis have been recognised for many years

  –Todd (1920) – ten phase system

  –Several other systems (see FHI module semester 2)

  –Suchey-Brooks method (Brooks and Suchey, 1990)
• Age estimation: Pubic Symphysis

  • Suchey-Brooks based on 739 males, 273 females from Los Angeles County CC/ME Office – ethnically diverse.

  • Suchey-Brooks method compresses the Todd system into 6 phases for each sex.

  • Casts are used to represent the extremes of each phase

  –Each phase has two casts which represent range of variation.

  • Comprehensive descriptions accompany each phase
• Suchey-Brooks - Phase 1

  • Symphyseal face has a billowing surface composed of ridges and furrows which includes the pubic tubercle.

  • The horizontal ridges are well marked.

  • Ventral bevelling may be commencing.

  • Although ossific nodules may occur on the upper extremity, a key feature of this phase is the lack of delimitation of either extremity (upper and lower)

  
• Suchey-Brooks - Phase 2

  • Symphyseal phase may still show ridge development.

  • Lower and upper extremities show early stages of delimitation, with or without ossific nodules

  • Ventral rampart may begin formation as extension from either or both extremities

  
• Suchey-Brooks - Phase 3

  • Symphyseal face shows lower extremity and ventral rampart in process of completion.

  • Fusing ossific nodules may form upper extremity and extended along ventral border

  • Symphyseal face may either be smooth or retain distinct ridges.

  • Dorsal plateau is complete

  • No lipping of symphyseal dorsal margin or bony ligamentous outgrowths

  
• Suchey-Brooks - Phase 4

  • Symphyseal face is generally fine grained, although remnants of ridge and furrow system may remain

  • Oval outline usually complete at this stage, though a hiatus may occur in upper aspect of ventral circumference.

  • Pubic tubercle is fully separated from the symphyseal face through definition of upper extremity

  • Symphyseal face must have a distinct rim

  • Ventrally, bony ligamentous outgrowths may occur in inferior portion of pubic bone adjacent to symphyseal face

  • Slight lipping may appear on dorsal border

  
• Suchey-Brooks - Phase 5

  • Slight depression of the face relative to a completed rim

  • Moderate lipping is usually found on the dorsal border with prominent ligamentous outgrowths on the ventral border

  • Little or no rim erosion, though breakdown possible on superior aspect of ventral border

  
• Suchey-Brooks - Phase 6

  • Symphyseal face shows on-going depression as rim erodes

  • Ventral ligamentous attachments are marked

  • Pubic tubercle may appear as a separate bony knob

  • Face may be pitted or porous, giving an appearance of disfigurement as the on-going process of erratic ossification proceeds

  • Crenulations may occur, with the shape of the face often irregular

  
• Suchey-Brooks

  Descriptive Statistics for Suchey-Brooks Scoring System

  
• Auricular Surface

  • Survives inhumation particularly well

  • Changes in morphology extend beyond 50 years

  • Changes to the auricular surface of the ilium have been related to increasing chronological age, irrespective of biological sex or ancestral origin

  • Lovejoy et al. (1985) observed age related changes to the auricular surface in the Hamann-Todd collection

  • They devised a method for scoring the changes into eight phases

  • Age related changes have been observed in:

  –Surface granulation

  –Microporosity

  –Macroporosity

  –Transverse organisation

  –Billowing and striations
• Lovejoy et al., 1985

  • Phase 1 (20-24):

  –Billowing and very fine granularity

  • Phase 2 (25-29):

  –Reduction of billowing but retention of youthful appearance

  • Phase 3 (30-34):

  –General loss of billowing, replacement by striae, coarsening of granularity

  •Phase 4 (35-39):

  –Uniform course granularity
• Lovejoy et al., 1985

  • Phase 5 (40-44):

  –Transition from course granularity to dense surface, this may take place over islands on the surface of one or both surfaces

  • Phase 6 (45-49):

  –Completion of densification with complete loss of granularity

  • Phase 7 (50-59):

  –Dense irregular surface of rugged topography and moderate to marked activity in preauricular areas

  • Phase 8 (60+):

  –Breakdown with marginal lipping, microporosity, increased irregularity, and marked activity in preauricular areas
• Buckberry and Chamberlain (2002)

  • Buckberry and Chamberlain revised the Lovejoy et al. method in order to make it easier to understand and adopt and to reduce the degree of inter and intra observer error

  • Using the same terminology as Lovejoy they produced a framework of five characteristics:

  –Transverse organisation

  –Surface texture

  –Degree of microporosity

  –Degree of macroporosity

  –Apical changes

  • Each are evaluated independently and given ordinal scores
• Buckberry and Chamberlain (2002)

  
• Buckberry and Chamberlain (2002)