Is the first rib a reliable indicator of age at death assessment? Test of the method developed by Kunos et al (1999)

Authors: Schmitt A.¹; Murail P.¹

Source: Homo, Volume 54, Number 3, May 2004 , pp. 207-214(8)

Publisher: Urban & Fischer

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Abstract:

The aim of this study was to test the method Kunos and his colleagues (1999) developed on the first rib to assess adult age-at-death. The method was applied on a sample of known age and sex, selected from a Thai collection. The procedure being subjective, we chose to estimate an age category rather than a precise age.

The results show that only 55% of the individuals are correctly classified and that the number of subjects over 60 years old is under-estimated. Three explanations are given: the modifications of the first rib related with ageing are more variable than previously stated, the technique is too subjective and difficult to apply and the morphological changes of the first rib are different between North-American and Thai people.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1078/0018-442X-00070

Affiliations: 1: Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, UMR 5809, Université Bordeaux 1

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