Final answer:
The age of a skeleton is most easily assessed in children through radiograph analysis of bone ossification and dental development. Adults can be evaluated using transition analysis, but it is less accurate for older adults due to biases and broad age intervals.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is easiest to assess the age of a skeleton from the group of children, particularly when evaluating the ossification of bones. A radiograph of a child's femur can show the presence or absence of certain growth plates, known as epiphyseal plates, which fuse at known ages. Additionally, dental development and eruption patterns are significant age indicators in juvenile skeletons. For adults, transition analysis is recommended, which assesses age using skeletal indicators such as the pubic symphysis, the iliac auricular surface, and cranial suture closure. However, traditional paleo demographic age-estimation methods may be less accurate for older adults due to inherent biases and broad age intervals typically employed in such analyses.