Sd. Stout et al., A TEST AND CORRECTION OF THE CLAVICLE METHOD OF STOUT AND PAINE FOR HISTOLOGICAL AGE ESTIMATION OF SKELETAL REMAINS, American journal of physical anthropology, 100(1), 1996, pp. 139-142
The histological method developed by Stout and Paine ([1992] Am. J. Ph
ys, Antropol. 87:111-115) for estimating age at death using the clavic
le is tested on a known age independent sample from a nineteenth centu
ry cemetery near Spitalfriedhof St. Johann in Basel, Switzerland. The
mean absolute difference between reported ages and histologically pred
icted ages is 5.5 years. Mean predicted age for the sample is differen
t from mean reported age. This difference is accounted for by differen
ces in the age distributions between the original autospy sample used
to derive the histological age-predicting formula and the cemetery sam
ple, and an inherent loss of reliability of histological age predictio
ns for the skeletal remains of older individuals, A new formula based
upon the combined original autopsy sample of Stout and Paine (1992) an
d the Swiss cemetery sample is presented, It is recommended that this
formula be used when estimating ages for older individuals or archaeol
ogical skeletal samples. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.