Given the need for alternative tools that enable the objective and mathematically robust assessment of true chronological age at death, this project developed three fully computational, quantitative shape analysis methods and a combinatory approach that use three-dimensional laser scans of the pubic symphysis.
In forensic anthropology, age-at-death estimation typically requires the macroscopic assessment of the skeletal indicator and its association with a phase or score. High subjectivity and error are the recognized disadvantages of this approach, creating a need for alternative tools that enable the objective and mathematically robust assessment of true chronological age. The current study used a novel age-related shape measure, focusing on the changes observed in the ventral margin curvature, and refined two former methods whose measures capture the flatness of the symphyseal surface. The study shows how to decrease age-estimation error and improve prior results by combining these outline and surface measures in two multivariate regression models. The presented models produce objective age-estimates that are comparable to current practices with root-mean-square-errors between 13.7 and 16.5 years. (publisher abstract modified)