Estimation of Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry
Estimating the age at death in the human skeleton can be a challenging task due to the significant physical, biological and general individualistic differences of the body. Determining the age of death of individuals over the age of fifty has proven to be even more difficult. Further developments and models are continually being developed to assist anthropologists in determining age estimates. Early models of age of death estimations based their focus on the femur but this basis has revealed unreliable and inaccurate results. A recent study conducted by Dr. Christian Crowder of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City has shown that focusing on the anterior cortex and the biological limitations of bone turnover has shown to be an accurate model for estimating the age of death for those individuals over the age of fifty. A significant advantage of this model over historical models includes accounting for ninety to ninety-five percent of the spatial variation in osteons within the anterior cortex.
Read the full study here.
Source: Forensic Magazine
[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]
Citation: Crowder, C. (2013). Estimation of Age at Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry. Retrieved February 12, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/news/estimation-age-death-using-cortical-bone-histomorphometry.
