The Effects of Bilateral Asymmetry in Long Bone Length on Juvenile Age Predictions

Summary

Diaphyseal lengths are routinely used to estimate age in juvenile skeletal remains. However, the effects of bilateral asymmetry in bone growth on the estimation of age have not been properly addressed. This study uses a sample of 26 individuals of known age (birth to 11 years) from the skeletal collection housed at the Natural Museum of Natural History and Science, in Lisbon, Portugal. Diaphyseal length of the humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia and fibula, were collected from the right and left sides. Differences between the sides were statistically significant for the radius, ulna and femur (p<0.009). Three age estimation methods were used to assess the impact on point age estimates. Overall, formulae provided by Cardoso et al. (2014) and Primeau et al. (2016) seem to overestimate age at death, more noticeably on the right side. Inversely, Stull et al.’s (2014) method always underestimates age, particularly on the left side. Although the side from which the bone was selected affects age estimates, these results suggest that selecting the appropriate age estimation method is more important.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16391