Figure 5 - from "Estimation of Age-at-Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry of the Rib and Femur: A Validation Study on a British Population"

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Table 5. Descriptive statistics for the histomorphometric variables of the rib sample divided by sex. 3.2.2. Age Estimation Methods

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1 These specimens belong to the same individual. Table 1. Demographics of the Blackburn sample.

Figure 1. Age-related differences in the microstructure of cortical bone. Note the differences in cortical thickness and osteon density between rib 4 (1.5 years old) and rib 2 (69 years old). (a) Cross-section of rib 4; (b) cross-section of rib 2; (c) rib 4 and (d) rib 2 indicating examples of intact osteons (blue outline) and osteon fragments (red outline).

Table 2. Differences in the definition of the histomorphometric variables between rib and femur methods.

Estimation of Age-at-Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry of the Rib and Femur: A Validation Study on a British Population

Abstract: Histomorphometry constitutes a valuable tool for age estimation. Histological interpopulation variability has been shown to affect the accuracy of age estimation techniques and therefore validation studies are required to test the accuracy of the pre-existing methodologies. The present research constitutes a validation study of widely known histological methods on the sixth rib and the femoral midshaft of a 19th century British population originating from Blackburn, England. An evaluation of the histomorphometric features of eleven ribs and five femora was performed and used to test the accuracy of selected methods. Results indicated that osteon area and circularity were the only histomorphometric variables that presented significant interpopulation variability. Cho et al.’s method for the ribs and the average value produced using Kerley and Ubelaker’s method for intact osteon and percentage of lamellar bone equations for femur were considered the only reliable markers for estimatin...

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