Applicability, reliability, and accuracy of age-at-death estimation methods on a contemporary Italian population.

ABSTRACT: This research tested the applicability, intra- and inter-observer reliability, and accuracy of nine macroscopic methods for estimating age-at-death from skeletal elements. The sample included 400 individuals from the contemporary CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection, equally divided by sex assigned at birth and with age-at-death ranging from 20 to 104 years. Statistical analyses used standard measures of reliability and validity. The most applicable methods assessed the auricular surface of the ilium (92%), whereas the preservation and/or identification of the fourth rib was rare (16%). All methods proved repeatable, except for the assessment of the obliteration of palatine sutures, which showed greater subjectivity to the observer's experience. The Rougé-Maillart (2009) method exhibite

SUBMITTER: Morandini P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12046114 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature