Research Training ProgramSmithsonian
Institution
|
|
| Cassady Yoder University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico Douglas Ubelaker, Ph.D. "Being here has taken me from my little world of anthropology and exposed me to the wonders of the natural sciences." |
 |
|
|
Applicability of Costo-Sternal Rib Aging Across Rib Series
ABSTRACT
One of the more difficult tasks a physical anthropologist faces is the accurate assessment of an individual's age. Techniques have been devised utilizing a variety of morphological and histological techniques. In 1984 Iscan et al. proposed a new technique using a phase analysis of the morphological changes to the sternal end of the right fourth rib. Recognizing that the right fourth rib may not be present or be hard to determine, this study tests the applicability of this method to the left ribs and the other right ribs in the series (II, III, V-IX). The ribs of 231 individuals from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History's Terry Collection; 15 individuals from the William M. Bass Forensic Collection housed at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville; and 5 individuals from the Maxwell Museum's Documented Collection curated at the University of New Mexico, were examined using the Iscan et al. age assessment technique. Statistical analysis reveals that left ribs IV-IX do not vary significantly from their right counterparts and only right rib II phase scores vary significantly from right rib IV scores. Tests of the average of an individual's rib scores versus their right rib IV scores do not yield significant results. Due to questions about the statistical significance of the single rib comparison tests, the average of an individual's rib series scores is the recommended technique for the assessment of age. This research provides one more possible technique in the assessment of age in incompletely preserved individuals.
This research was funded by a grant from the Smithsonian Women's Committee
