Cranial suture closure and its implications for age estimation

Cranial suture closure has been regarded as an unreliable method for age estimation due to the large amount ofvariability in the commencement, progression and termination of fusion. The Hamann Todd Osteological Collectionwas used to examine the sagittal, coronal and lambdoid sutures in an attempt to determine the impact of sex and ancestry on synostosis. The sagittal does not appear to be impacted by sex, but in the coronal and lambdoid sutures,significant sex-based differences were noted. Generally, females exhibited greater progression than males, butsynostosis was more strongly related to age in males. Stronger age-score correlations were present in black individuals compared to white individuals. This questions the application of current cranial aging methods, which do not address sex- and population-based differences in the commencement, progression and termination ofsutural fusion.

Download Full-text

Non-Invasive Age Estimation by Cranial Suture Closure in Japanese Sika Deer (Cervus nippon)

Mammal Study ◽

10.3106/ms2018-0065 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (3) ◽

pp. 147

Author(s):

Jinwoo Oh ◽

Masato Minami ◽

Suzuna Ikeda ◽

Seiki Takatsuki ◽

Nobumasa Oonishi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Age Estimation ◽

Sika Deer ◽

Cervus Nippon ◽

Cranial Suture ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Suture Closure

Download Full-text

Age Estimation from Computed Tomography of Cranial Suture Closure in a Thai Population

Medicine & Health ◽

10.17576/mh.2020.1502.24 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 276-289

Author(s):

Pasuk Mahakkanukrauh ◽

Keyword(s):

Computed Tomography ◽

Age Estimation ◽

Ct Images ◽

Ct Image ◽

Cranial Suture ◽

Thai Population ◽

Age Related ◽

Fundamental Information ◽

Starting Point ◽

Suture Closure

Age estimation from human skeletal remains is an important step to reconstruct a biological profile. Cranial suture has long been studied for its age-related closure. However, until now, forensic anthropologists still attempt to investigate the best way of estimating age at death from cranial suture closure because skull is usually found at the crime scene due to its easy recognised-appearance and persistence to post-mortem insults. For these reasons, a study of age estimation from cranial suture closure in a Thai population was conducted, which focussed to study the appearance and visibility of facial suture closure using computed tomography (CT). CT image series of 140 cases were obtained in order to investigate ectocranial closure of the selected facial sutures. The results from CT image analysis revealed that nasomaxillary provided the most consistent examination of suture closure (52%) while frontonasal delivered the lowest consistency in suture closure examination (29%). The inconsistency mostly occurred in assigning the closure score of 1 and 2. Thus, it could be suggested that a 3-scale scoring system of closure: open, closing, and closed, could be an appropriate method of evaluating degree of ectocranial closure of facial sutures obtained from CT imaging. This fundamental information of facial suture closure from CT images could serve as a starting point on development of age estimation technique from suture closure by utilising CT images.

Download Full-text