ADULT FEMALES AND PUBIC BONE-GROWTH

Previous research (Tague [1994] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 95:27-40) has shown an age effect in pubic bone length among adult women. Tague foun d that in three prehistoric Native American skeletal samples, women ag ed 18-24 had a significantly shorter linea terminalis than did women a ged 25 and older. The purpose of this research is to determine whether such a difference can be discerned in other female skeletal samples. Three female skeletal samples were used in this analysis: 75 African-A merican and 42 European-American females aged 18-39 from the Hamann-To dd Collection (collected between 1893 and 1938; Iscan, 1990) and 99 Af rican-American females aged 18-39 from the Terry Collection (collected between 1914 and 1965; Cobb, 1933; Iscan, 1990). Several chord measur ements of pubic bone length along the linea terminalis were analyzed b y one-tailed t-tests of the separate samples subdivided into two age g roups: 18-24 and 25-39 years. Of 15 comparisons between age groups, no ne differed significantly by age group within each sample. It is concl uded that the observed significant difference in pubic bone length in the Native American female skeletal samples cannot be replicated in ot her samples and that there is no age effect on pubic bone length in th e samples tested in this analysis. Tague's findings reflect either the occurrence of late menarche in prehistoric populations or differentia l survivorship. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.