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Age estimation in infant and prenatal individuals through the metric development of the pars petrosa and squamosal portion of the temporal bone

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Abstract

This study proposes an assessment of the accuracy of the Fazekas and Kósa and Nagaoka methods by measuring the squamosal and petrous portions of the temporal bone, whose application in the Mediterranean population is not recommended. Therefore, our proposal is a new formula to estimate the age of skeletal remains from individuals at 5 months gestational age to 1.5 postnatal years with the temporal bone. The proposed equation was calculated on a Mediterranean sample identified from the cemetery of San José, Granada (n = 109). The mathematical model used is the exponential regression of the estimated age for each measure and sex, and both in combination, using an inverse calibration and cross-validation model. In addition, the estimation errors and the percentage of individuals within a 95% confidence interval were calculated. The lateral development of the skull, especially the growth of the length of the petrous portion, showed the greatest accuracy, while its counterpart, the width of the pars petrosa, showed the lowest accuracy, so its use is discouraged. The positive results from this paper should be useful in both forensic and bioarchaeological contexts.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Emucesa, the San José Cemetery Company of Granada, for allowing us access to study material, also to the Laboratory of Physical Anthropology of the University of Granada, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Anthropology, Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, University of Granada, Avda. de la Investigación, 11, 18006, Granada, Spain

    Erik A. Borja Miranda, Manuel Partido Navadijo, Inmaculada Alemán Aguilera & Javier Irurita Olivares

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  1. Erik A. Borja Miranda
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  2. Manuel Partido Navadijo
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  3. Inmaculada Alemán Aguilera
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  4. Javier Irurita Olivares
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Borja Miranda, E.A., Partido Navadijo, M., Alemán Aguilera, I. et al. Age estimation in infant and prenatal individuals through the metric development of the pars petrosa and squamosal portion of the temporal bone. Int J Legal Med 137, 1505–1514 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-023-03030-0

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