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Evaluation of the Enhanced Computational Methods of Estimating Age‐at‐Death Using the Pubic Symphyses of a White South African Population
Author(s) -
Joubert Laurette C.,
Briers Nanette,
Meyer Anja
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.14180
Subject(s) - pubic symphysis , forensic anthropology , white (mutation) , population , demography , medicine , biology , surgery , geography , genetics , archaeology , sociology , pelvis , gene
To address problems of reproducibility related to current age estimation methods, the enhanced computational Methods (ECM) were previously developed using a sample of white North American male pubic symphyses and showed promise in improving current techniques. However, given the evidence of sex and population differences in the onset of age markers, this study set out to test the ECM on a white South African sample. The sample consisted of 184 well‐preserved os coxae from individuals of known age and sex. Pubic symphyseal surfaces were scanned using the Artec Spider 3D scanner, processed using Artec Studio 10 and analyzed using for Age. Point estimates of age were then compared to the true age of each individual. Results indicate that the ECM performed poorly in a white South African population, with consistent underestimation of age‐at‐death and weak positive correlations with true age. Despite the low correlations, the ECM did, however, reduce observer error.