Age Estimation Using Dental Development and Long Bone Length for the Children in the Late Classic Copan Maya Civilization

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Childhood growth and development remains difficult to estimate in past populations, yet, it provides a unique window into childhood experiences in prehistory. This study considers subadult skeletal remains estimated to be 1-21 years of age at the time of death from the ancient Maya population in Copan, Honduras based on the end of the eruption/development of the third adult molar. The 85 subadult remains reveal the experience of the children which reminded understudied, in part due to the poor preservation of subadult remains. Researching the experiences of children and childhood growth and development in the ancient Maya society helps illuminate an often-forgotten social group. Skeletal data used compares age estimates derived from dental development and eruption to those of long bone lengths to see if the resultant age ranges are equivalent. Observing similarities or differences between these methodologically distinct age estimations highlights (1) how factors like disease, trauma, or inequality are embodied during childhood affecting the growth and development of dental and skeletal tissues; (2) if there are bias or observation error in age estimates depending on the method utilized; (3) and provide methodological tools to increase the accuracy and precision of age estimation among prehistoric and historic indigenous populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37582.0