NCJ Number
223382
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 53 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 578-587
Date Published
May 2008
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This research established the applicability of using Lamendin's dental technique in the Balkans in order to identify war victims there, as well as to establish new age parameters calculated specifically from a Balkan reference sample in order to generate Bayesian-derived age-at-death estimates.
Abstract
The results show that the Bayesian analysis reduced the severity of several problems associated with aging bias, reduced age mimicry, and reduced age ranges associated with the most probable age compared to the inverse calibration methods for this sample. The study concluded that periodontal recession could not be used as a univariate age indicator, due to its low correlation with chronological age. Apical translucency produced a high correlation with chronological age and was determined to be an important age indicator. The Bayesian approach offered the most appropriate statistical analysis for the estimation of age-at-death with the current sample. Lamendin's method is preferable for use in the Balkans compared to other methods, because it offers a quick, simple, and reliable nondestructive technique that uses dental microstructure based on a European reference sample. The sample consisted of 401 single-rooted teeth of known age and sex from individuals identified from Kosovo. The sample consisted of 359 males, ranging in age-at-death from 18 to 90 years. 1 table, 4 figures, and 189 references