The Use of Dental and Skeletal Indicators to Predict the Age of Menarche from Juvenile Human Skeletal Remains

Summary

The onset of puberty, characterized by menarche in females, marks the important transition from the juvenile to the adolescent life-history stage. Limited research has been done to investigate the relationship between this transition and indicators of skeletal and dental maturation. This study examines the association between age of menarche and stages of skeletal and dental development seen in radiographs of the hand/wrist and dentition, using a sample of 33 females followed longitudinally in the University of Montreal Growth Study. Correlation analysis was used to test the relationship between the age of menarche and the skeletal/dental maturation stages assigned to 8 teeth as well as the bones in the hand/wrist. Maturation of the ulna and PM2 provided the strongest relationships with age of menarche. Regression analysis showed that combining these two indicators strengthens that relationship, with the PM2 as the strongest predictor of age at menarche. These findings can provide a reliable method for estimating the age of menarche in skeletal remains, providing insight into the reproductive lifespan, social and nutritional status of past populations.

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): 16329