Analysis of Age-at-Death Estimation Through the Use of Pubic Symphyseal Data

: The question of whether age parameters derived from an American population will reliably estimate age‐at‐death for East European skeletal populations is important since the ability to accurately estimate an individual’s age‐at‐death hinges on what standard is used. A reference sample of identified individuals with known ages‐at‐death from the regions of the Former Yugoslavia (n = 861) is used to determine the age structure of victims and serves as the prior in the Bayesian analysis. Pubic symphyseal data in the manners of Todd (Am J Phys Anthropol, 3 [1920], 285; Am J Phys Anthropol, 4 [1921], 1) and Suchey‐Brooks (Am J Phys Anthropol, 80 [1986], 167) were collected for n = 296 Balkan males and females and for n = 2078 American males and females. An analysis of deviance is calculated using an improvement chi‐square to test for population variation in the aging processes of American and East European populations using proportional odds probit regression. When males and females are treated separately, there is a significant association among females and the population (df = 1, chi‐square likelihood ratio = 15.071, p = 0.001). New age estimates for Balkan populations are provided and are based on the calculated age distribution from the Gompertz‐Makeham hazard analysis and the ages‐of‐transition. To estimate the age‐at‐death for an individual, the highest posterior density regions for each symphyseal phase are provided.