THE PROBLEM OF AGE ESTIMATION IN A MODERN SKELETAL POPULATION: ARE CURRENT AGING METHODS SATISFACTORY?

The skeletal age determination of individuals, especially if they come from a forensic context, is one of the main aims in victim identification in the field of forensic anthropology; the methods currently used must demonstrate reliable and accurate results which have to be easily reproduced. Nowadays, considering the average age of the modern population, it seems clear that one of the main difficulties is to estimate adequately the age ranges in skeletal remains belonging to elderly individuals, whose age appears to be well over 70 years. The methods actually used by anthropologists are usually standardized on archaeological and historical collections which do not completely reflect the characteristics of a modern populations, especially from a demographic point of view. The purpose of this study was to investigate a variety of methods in a sample of cemeterial skeletal remains of modern elderly individuals who died in the 90s, in which the age was well know and ranged between 50 to 98 years, and observe their ability to discriminate the oldest individuals. The methods examined consisting in those using different anatomical parts like the acetabulum, auricular surface, pubic symphysis, palatal sutures. Results on over 100 individuals showed a limited applicability and greater success of combined methods using the acetabulum and auricular surface.