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Age-related changes in the craniofacial region in a modern Greek population sample of known age and sex

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate ageing changes in craniofacial region in both sexes and evaluate whether these shape changes are substantial to achieve age discrimination of samples used in anthropological analyses. The study sample consisted of 157 crania of known sex and age (81 males and 76 females) belonging to individuals who lived in Greece during the twentieth century. The sample was divided in three age groups: young adults (YA, 18–39 years old), middle adults (MA, 40–59 years old) and old adults (OA, >60 years old). The three-dimensional coordinates of 31 ecto-cranial landmarks were digitized using a Microscribe 3DX contact digitizer, and landmark configurations were analyzed using the generalized least-squares Procrustes method. The results indicate that both males and females show significant difference among the age groups; however, shape differences can not be used for age group discrimination due to a large range on the accuracy of age group classification. The morphometric changes related to age were different between sexes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 52 Souidias Street, 106 76, Athens, Greece

    Maria-Eleni Chovalopoulou & Andreas Bertsatos

  2. Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, 1 P. Tsaldari Street, 69100, Komotini, Greece

    Christina Papageorgopoulou

Authors
  1. Maria-Eleni Chovalopoulou
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  2. Andreas Bertsatos
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  3. Christina Papageorgopoulou
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Correspondence to Maria-Eleni Chovalopoulou.

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Chovalopoulou, ME., Bertsatos, A. & Papageorgopoulou, C. Age-related changes in the craniofacial region in a modern Greek population sample of known age and sex. Int J Legal Med 131, 1103–1111 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-016-1470-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-016-1470-9

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