Final answer:
Skeletal age can be determined through transition analysis for adults and by epiphyseal fusion and dental development for children. The process involves analyzing morphological changes and developmental stages, but traditional methods face biases. Bayes's theorem is also used to refine age estimates against known-age reference samples.
Step-by-step explanation:
Age determination using skeletal remains is a common practice in paleodemography and forensic science. For adults, age can be estimated through a procedure known as transition analysis, which assesses age-related morphological changes in various parts of the skeleton. Specifically, features such as the pubic symphysis, iliac auricular surface, and cranial suture closure are analyzed. This method faces challenges because the skeletal markers can change at highly variable rates among individuals.
For individuals younger than 20 years, age estimation leverages the process of epiphyseal fusion, dental development, and tooth eruption, which follow more standardized developmental timelines. In the case of a child's femur, a radiograph can be used to determine the level of epiphyseal fusion, indicating the child's developmental stage and hence approximate age.
Traditional methods of skeletal age estimation use known-age-at-death reference samples to assign a skeleton to an age stage based on morphology, but these methods possess inherent biases. For instance, they often underestimate the age of older adults and cannot precisely distinguish between ages within broad age intervals, such as those over fifty years.
Bayes's theorem is also utilized to estimate the probability of age by evaluating the association between observed skeletal indicators and age, based on known-age reference samples. This approach helps refine the age estimates for individuals found in cemetery samples when only skeletal indicators are visible.