Skeletal age estimation in Hungarian population of known age and sex.

Several methods of estimating age on the basis of human skeletal remains are used all over the world, methods that were established using known age and sex databases or during medicolegal autopsies. Over the course of the past several decades, many tests have been carried out on various populations to confirm the applicability of these methods in age assessment. While the opinions of experts vary regarding the cranial suture closure techniques, morphology of the sternal end of the fourth rib has been proven to be more accurate as an age assessor. The purpose of this paper is to test the reliability of three age estimation methods on a Central European population. Observation of ecto- and endocranial suture closure after Meindl and Lovejoy and Acsádi and Nemeskéri (239 individuals in the case of Meindl and Lovejoy and 238 in the case of Acsádi and Nemeskéri) and morphology of the sternal ends of the third, fourth and fifth ribs in accordance with Işcan (116 individuals) was done on a Hungarian sample of known sex and age at death at autopsy procedures. According to the observations, (1) the state of ectocranial suture closure was so erratic that it was not useful in age assessment, (2) obliteration phases of the endocranial sutures yield only a rough estimation, and (3) age determination from sternal ends of the ribs was the most reliable, especially with the application of slightly expanded age intervals on the Hungarian population.