Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand.
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8107, Raleigh, NC 27695-8107, USA.
Forensic Sci Int. 2020 Feb;307:110111. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.110111. Epub 2019 Dec 26.
Cranial suture closure has been recognized for over a century as a useful trait for age estimation. Although this indicator has become a standard feature of age assessment protocols in skeletal remains, serious questions have been raised about its reliability. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive review of cranial suture closure as an age indicator from several perspectives, including its anatomy and history, as well as issues relating to validation, statistics, and the potential of technological advancements to improve outcomes. We further suggest a path forward for the use of cranial suture closure as an estimator of age. Although its unreliability has been widely reported, cranial suture closure still appears to have value as an aging method, and it is hoped that the information contained in this article can serve as a stepping stone toward more effective use of this indicator. The cranium is often more durable than other skeletal elements in both archaeological and forensic circumstances, so maximizing the effectiveness of cranial indicators is an important goal. It is hoped that recent advancements in technology and in analytical approaches to the cranial sutures could breathe some new life into this feature as an indicator of age.
颅骨缝闭合作为一种年龄估计的有用特征，已经被人们认识超过一个世纪了。尽管这一指标已成为骨骼遗骸年龄评估方案中的标准特征，但人们对其可靠性提出了严重质疑。本文试图从几个角度对颅骨缝闭合作为年龄指标进行全面综述，包括其解剖学和历史，以及与验证、统计学相关的问题，以及技术进步提高结果的潜力。我们进一步提出了将颅骨缝闭合作为年龄估计器的使用路径。尽管其可靠性已被广泛报道，但颅骨缝闭合作为一种老化方法似乎仍然具有价值，希望本文所包含的信息可以成为更有效地使用这一指标的垫脚石。在考古学和法医学中，颅骨通常比其他骨骼元素更耐用，因此最大限度地提高颅骨指标的有效性是一个重要目标。希望最近在颅骨缝合技术和分析方法方面的进展，能够为这一作为年龄指标的特征注入新的活力。
