Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Estimation of Age-at-Death From Human Skeletal Morphology

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Determination of the age-at-death of individuals from their osteological remains is an important part of physical and forensic anthropology. In the past, age determination has largely been treated as an `art,` with only minor attention given to the statistical bases for estimation. In this project a large sample of known age-at-death individuals from the Robert J. Terry Human Skeletal Collection (currently housed at the Smithsonian Institution) are examined to fit various statistical models for age estimation. Data previously collected by Drs. Thomas McKern and T.D. Stewart on 375 U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War will also be entered into these analyses. The McKern and Stewart data are housed in the Thomas Dale Stewart Papers at the Smithsonian. In addition to presenting the results of the statistical analyses, this project will make the raw data from both the Terry and McKern and Stewart sample available to interested researchers faced with the problem of determining ages-at-death.