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Radiographic changes in the clavicle and proximal femur and their use in the determination of skeletal age at death
Author(s) -
Walker Robert A.,
Lovejoy C. Owen
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330680107
Subject(s) - clavicle , radiography , humerus , calcaneus , context (archaeology) , medicine , femur , anatomy , orthodontics , forensic anthropology , radiology , surgery , biology , geography , paleontology , archaeology
Visually seriated radiographs of the proximal femur, proximal humerus, clavicle, and calcaneus from 130 individuals from the Hamann‐Todd collection were examined as indicators of skeletal age at death. The clavicle demonstrated the most consistent relationship to age in both sexes. The same radiographs were also seriated by size‐normalized optical density as a means of establishing relative radiolucency. In this context, visual seriation proved superior. The four sites studied showed strong divergence in response to age. Since each was sampling bone response from the same individual, it is concluded that bone loss is highly site specific. This demonstrates the individual character of specific skeletal sites. Visual inspection of clavicular radiographs, seriated on a populational basis, provides age estimates that are comparable to anatomical age indicators and provides independent estimates of skeletal age when included in the summary age method (1985: Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68:1–14).