A COMPARISON OF 3 DENTAL TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING AGE AT DEATH IN HUMANS

For a number of years it has been realized that age related morphologi cal changes in the human skeleton are not the most accurate, or precis e, means of estimating the age at death for an individual, and that de ntal changes can be used as an alternative. This paper critically exam ines three of the methods used for estimating human age from the denti tion which have appeared in the forensic science literature, testing t hem against a known modern sample population. A new statistical techni que to improve age estimates is described and applied to some archaeol ogical specimens.