AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 6857-66 (1985)

Ectocranial Suture Closure: A Revised Method for the

Determination of Skeletal Age at Death Based on the
Lateral-Anterior Sutures
RICHARD S. MEINDL AND C. OWEN LOVEJOY
Departments of Anthropology and Bwlogy, Kent State University, Kent,
Ohio 44242 (COL, R.S. M.), Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Case
Western Reserve Uniuersity, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 (C. 0.L),Cleveland
Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 (C. 0.L.), Department
of Human Anatomy, Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine,
Rootstown, Ohio 44272 (C.O.L.) and Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office,
Cleveland, Ohio 44106 (C.O.L.)

KEY WORDS Forensic, Age-determination, Age at death,

Demography, Sutures

ABSTRACT A new method for estimation of age-at-death based on the

degree of suture closure is presented. The method employs simple ectocranial
scoring of specific sites on the external table. Composite scores for two groups
of sutures, lateral-anterior and vault systems, which are used to provide
estimates of age-at-death, have been developed from a sample of 236 crania
from the Hamann-Todd Collection. A variety of tests show that the lateral-
anterior sutures are superior t o the sutures of the vault, that ectocranial is
superior to endocranial observation, and that age estimates are independent
of race and sex. It is concluded that suture closure can provide valuable
estimates of age-at-death in both archaeological and forensic contexts when
used in conjunction with other skeletal age indicators.

As an indicator of skeletal age at death,
cranial suture closure has had a curious his-
tory. Despite being used since the 16th cen-
tury, it is currently regarded by many as a
criterion of last resort. It enjoyed consider-
able attention in the first half of this century,
but fell under serious attack during the
1950s. Singer (1953) rejected suture closure
as an aging method, and Brooks (1955:583),
despite obtaining linear correlations with age
as high as .74, concurred, concluding it to be
“unreliable, regardless of sex or race.” Y3o
erratic is the onset and progress [of suture
closure] that an adequate series will provide
just about any pattern at any age level. Thus,
as a guide for age determination, such a trend
is of little use” (McKern and Stewart,
1957:37).
The period during which suture closure was
effectively abandoned appears to have been
a phase in skeletal biology during which it
was hoped that one or two highly reliable
age indicators would be isolated and per-
fected, allowing those of lesser accuracy to be
required only in special cases. It is now clear
that no such indicator is forthcoming, nor
given our knowledge of the plasticity of skel-
etal tissues, should we, in retrospect, have
ever hoped that it would be. We have, there-
fore (along with others: see Brooks, 1955; Ac-
sadi and Nemeskeri, 1970),advocated that as
many independent indicators of age as are
available should be systematically combined
(Lovejoy et al., 1985).
No studies exist in which suture closure
has actually been observed When and how
each degree of closure is reached in each
individual specimen is unknown. In an early
comprehensive study, Todd and Lyon at-
tempted to isolate a specific modal pattern of
closure. The methods which they employed,
however, may be among the reasons why
considerable doubt now exists that suture
closure is a useful age indicator, as the fol-
lowing citations will illustrate:
Received August 23, 1983; revised January 27, 1984; accepted
January 31,1984.

0 1985 ALAN R. LISS, INC

58 R.S. MEINDL AND C.O. LOVEJOY

. . . We first of all cut out from our series bony bridge across the suture to about
all the skulls belonging to skeletons of the 50% synostosis at the site;
anthropoid strain of pubic symphysis 2: Significant Closure; there is a marked de-
(1925a-c:340). gree of closure but some portion of the site
is still not completely fused;
Hence our next step was to eliminate all 3: Complete Obliteration; the site is com-
skulls belonging to skeletons which ex- pletely fused.
hibit a marked anomaly of skeletal age-
relationship (1925a-c:340). It should be noted that in the above scoring
system only one significant judgment need
We therefore eliminated all skulls which ever be made by the observer, that of choos-
we felt perfectly certain belonged to Bolk’s ing between scores of 1 or 2 for a site with
precocious group and also those of this substantial activity. Our experience with this
antithetic class (1925a-c:341). system has led us to conclude that this is not
difficult to judge in all but a few cases, and
If an investigator now takes Todd and Lyon’s that the above system is highly repeatable
data and applies them to a population which from one observer to another.
has not been culled in the same fashion, is it Subsequent to Todd and Lyon’s original
not surprising that markedly erroneous age studies (1924, 1925a-c), ectocranial observa-
estimates are frequently obtained? tion has been consistently rejected in favor of
Similar kinds of methodological problems endocranial closure. Todd and Lyon believed
appear to have accompanied investigations of endocranial closure to be more reliable be-
suture closure on other occasions. These have cause of the phenomenon they termed
led t o a confusing variety of assertions about “lapsed union.” They observed that a suture
the nature of this age indicator. Some authors may display union on the endocranial sur-
assert that sex andor race have no bearing on face, but that closure may fail to “spread” to
suture closure; others assert with equal cer- the external surface. The critical forensic
tainty that it has. Krogman (1949:22) states questions, however, do not involve the regu-
that “there are no sex or race differences”(em- larity of closure during the early adult years,
phasis in original), yet Brooks concludes that but the nature and degree of synostosis dur-
“. . . female cranial suture closure tends to lag ing the later years. Because ectocranial ac-
from 5 t o 25 years . . . behind the age changes tivity is far more closely associated with
observed in the pubic bone.. .”, but that extreme age (for which new forensic stan-
“in males. . . suture closure tends to devi- dards are most needed) we elected to score
ate not more than plus or minus 5 to 8 only the external table of each cranium.
years. . . . (Brooks, 1955:573-574). Todd and
Lyon conclude quite emphatically that Sites chosen for observation and analysis
“. . . there is an orderly age sequence in the Following a review of studies providing pri-
progress of suture closure” and that sex and mary data on suture closure with age (Todd
race “affect this age sequence only in minor and Lyon, 1924, 1925a-c; Krogman, 1949;
degree or not at all” (1924:333). Singer, 1953; Brooks, 1955; McKern and
Stewart, 1957; Acsadi and Nemeskeri, 19701,
METHODS OF OBSERVATION
we selected and defined 17 points on the ex-
Small (1cm) lengths of a suture or specific ternal table of the skull for examination and
sites (e.g., the region surrounding bregma) recorded scores for 236 crania from the
were selected for inspection. A score was re- Hamann-Todd Collection chosen on the basis
corded for that site-other activity close to of the reliability of stated age-at-death (see
the site was disregarded. In addition, a sim- Lovejoy et al., 1985, for details). These sites
plified scale was employed in order to maxi- are defined in Table 1.
mize repeatability and ease of scoring. Each During preliminary analysis, it became
site was assigned one of four degrees of clear that some sites were of restricted value
closure: for consistent age determination. Closure at
0: Open; there is no evidence of any ecto- parietomastoid was not common in our sam-
cranial closure at the site; ple and when present was not clearly associ-
1: Minimal Closure; Some closure has oc- ated with age. Only six specimens had
cured. This score is given for any minimal complete closure and these specimens aver-
to moderate closure, i.e., from a single aged only 39 years of age, while those speci-
 TABLE 1. Definitions of suture observation sites used in text’

Parietomastoid: point on the parieto-mastoid suture lying 1 cm anterior of asterion

Squamosal: point on the squamosal suture lying directly superior to the postglenoid tubercle

Occipitomastoid: point on the occipitomastoid suture a t its intersection with a line connecting the apeces of the mastoid processes

Zygomatic: midpoint of the external surface of the zygomaticotemporal suture

Malar: point on the zygomaticomaxillary suture directly lateral to the infraorbital foramen

Frontolacrimal: at lacrimale (juncture of the posterior lacrimal crest and frontal bone) on the frontolacrimal suture

Frontoethmoid: midpoint of the frontoethmoid suture

Midlambdoid midpoint of each half of the lambdoid suture (in “pars intermedia” of the lambdoid suture)

Lambda: at lambda (in “pars lambdica” of sagittal and “pars lambdica” of lambdoid sutures)

Obelion: at obelion (in “pars obelica” of the sagittal suture)

Anterior sagittal: point on the sagittal suture at the juncture of the anterior one third and posterior two-thirds of its length (usually near the juncture of the
“pars bregmatica” and “pars verticis” of the sagittal suture)

Bregma: at bregma (in “pars bregmatica” of the coronal and “pars bregmatica” of the sagittal sutures)

Midcoronal: midpoint of each half of the coronal suture (in “pars complicata” of the coronal suture)

Pterion: at pterion, the region of the upper portion of the greater wing of the sphenoid, usually the point at which the parietosphenoid suture meets the
frontal bone

Sphenofrontal: midpoint of the sphenofrontal suture

Inferior sphenotemporal: point of the sphenotemporal suture lying at its intersection with a line connecting both articular tubercles of the temporomandibular
joint

Superior sphenotemporal: point on the sphenotemporal suture lying 2 cm below its juncture with the parietal bone
’Each is a region comprised of all sutures within a cm circle about the defined point.
60 R.S. MEINDL AND C.O. LOVEJOY
mens with no closure, totaling 202, had a
mean age of 40 years. This site was therefore
rejected.
The squamosal point gave the least amount
of age-related information of any ectocranial
suture. Only 8% of the sample showed any
closure a t this point, which was also, there-
fore, rejected.
The occipitomastoid point was nearly as
poor as the squamosal. Our specimens
showed no association with age and degree
of closure, and the site was rejected.
The zygomatic and malar points were dif-
ficult to score (most interobserver errors oc-
curred at these sites), and bilateral asym-
metry was common. These two sites were
therefore rejected.
Two orbital points, frontolacrimal, and
frontoethmoid, were discarded on the grounds
of poor interpretability. Weak associations
were found between closure and age, but
these were insufficient to overcome the diffi-
culties of observation and the fact that these
sites are among those least likely to be pre-
served in archaeological material.
The sites which were retained are shown
in Figure 1, and consist of (1)midlambdoid,
Fig. 1. Ten observation sites (regions) at which suture closure is read. The ten sites illus-
trated are defined in Table 1.
(2) lambda, (3) obelion, (4)anterior sagittal,
(5) bregma, (6) midcoronal, (7) pterion, (8)
sphenofrontal, (9) inferior sphenotemporal,
and (10) superior sphenotemporal. In discus-
sions below, the first seven of these sites will
be referred to as the vault system; the last
three, when combined with pterion and mid-
coronal, will be referred to as the lateral-
anterior system.
RESULTS
The strongest simple rank-order correla-
tions with chronological age were found at
pterion, sphenofrontal, midlambdoid, and
lambdoid (Table 2). The associations are only
moderate and require that age estimates
based on them be accompanied by wide con-
fidence intervals. The probability of concor-
dance (Table 2) is based on the Kendall coef-
ficient, which assumes a n underlying conti-
nuity to the ordinal closure scales [tied
observations are thus equally distributed be-
tween the concordant and discordant cranium
pairs (Hollander and Wolfe, 1973:185)].
The next phase of analysis was to deter-
mine that combination of sites which could
predict chronological age most accurately. A
 AGE DETERMINATION BY SUTURE CLOSURE 61

TABLE 2. Rank-order correlations ofeach suture with

aee (Kendull's r. n = 236)
Probability of
Suture 7 Concordance'
Midlambdoid .43 72
Lambda .43 72
Obelion .37 69
Anterior Sagittal .35 68
Bregma .38 69
Midcoronal .38 69
Pterion .51 76
Sphenofrontal .43 71
Inferior sphenotemporal .34 67
Superior sphenotemporal .29 65
'Probability (%I of correctly ranking by age any two randomly
chosen crania solely on the basis of this suture = ( r + lY2.

forensic system for age determination of a n

isolated cranium requires a set of sites which
possesses certain characteristics:

(1) The set should contain some sutures

which demonstrate a protracted sequence
of closure. Briefly active though relatively
reliable sutures such as those seen in some
regions of the vault are largely expended
by age 55. Since postcranial age indicators
lose accuracy after this age as well, a sys-
tem based primarily on early sutures
brings limited new information to each
specimen. This of course was also the ba-
sis of the decision to focus on ectocranial
rather than endocranial closure.
(2) Each site must correlate moderately
with age within the primary period of its
activity. For this reason, the posterior cir-
cum-meatal sutures were rejected.
(3) While each suture must reflect age,
some information from each suture should
be unique. For example, pterion seems to
best monitor the fourth decade. The
sphenotemporal points reflect events after
this time, while obelion shows early activ-
ity in almost every case (see Table 3).

The five lateral-anterior sites meet these

requirements. This region also emerged a s
the best overall predictor of age. A system
based on the traditional vault sutures was
also developed in this study for two reasons.
First, the calotte is usually more durable in
archaeological populations. Second, a n eval-
uation of a vault suture system provides a
fair comparison with the lateral-anterior sys-
tem when both are based on the same
specimens.
62 R.S. MEINDL AND C.O. LOVEJOY
It was expected that the crania in our sam-
ple would exhibit a modal commencement
(and termination) sequence in much the same
fashion as adolescents exhibit a modal long-
bone epiphyseal fusion sequence. A designa-
tion of this modal suture pattern should aid
in seriating adult crania from a paleodemo-
graphic sample. Within the lateral-anterior
set, pterion normally initiates closure, while
the superior sphenotemporal is the last to
begin. The orders of initiation and termina-
tion of closure are nearly the same in this
region with the exception of the spheno-
frontal, which generally begins after mid-
coronal, but tends to complete union before it
(Table 4).
The vault sutures begin and terminate in
approximately the same order, except the
three sites which are the last to fuse; these
tend to exchange positions in the order, with
bregma tending to close rapidly after
commencement.
These modal patterns were derived from a
simple Guttman analysis-a common tool in
attitude measurement in social science sur-
vey research. The modal patterns (Table 4)
are simply the most parsimonious; i.e., the
modal pattern is the one for which the total
number of abmodal responses in the sample
is minimized. The coefficients of reproduc-
ibility, which largely deemphasize differ-
ences in the number of sutures used in each
set, indicate that valid unidimensional cu-
mulative scales can be derived from both the
vault and lateral-anterior sutures. They also
indicate that abmodal vault sequences are
relatively more comrnon than are those for
the lateral-anterior region.
Composite scores were computed for each
specimen as the sums of specific site scores
(ranging from 0 to 3; see above). Thus for
each case a lateral-anterior score was re-
corded based on five sutures and ranging
from 0 to 15; for the vault sutures it ranged
from 0 to 21. The correlations for the two
composite scores with actual age are moder-
ate (Table 5). The removal of clearly abmodal
cases did not materially alter the magnitude
of the correlations, except in one instance
involving the 73 specimens which exhibited
one or more deviations from the modal vault
suture initiation sequence. Since nearly all
of these were young, the correlation coeffi-
cient was decreased by their removal be-
cause of restriction of range. It should be
emphasized here that the real percentage of
abmodality can only be determined in what
would amount to a longitudinal develop-
mental study. Whether older crania modally
initiated closure, and whether younger
crania would have progressed modally can
never be known. Yet these data indicate that
the degree to which a specific case follows
the modal closure pattern does not measur-
ably affect the composite scores’ ability to
predict age. Note specifically that the lateral-
anterior regression slopes are virtually iden-
tical. The somewhat greater heterogeneity of
the three vault regression slopes may be a n
artifact of the reduced data set.
Systems for age estimation
Average ages and various indices of disper-
sion are given for both the lateral-anterior
and the vault composite scores. The best es-
timate for a skull of unknown age is deter-
mined by the five values of the lateral-
anterior system. It is the mean age corre-
sponding to the sum of those integers (Table
6). A similar estimate is provided by the
seven vault sutures (Table 7). Specimens with
fully open crania should be aged on the basis
of postcranial indicators. Fully closed crania
must be aged by pelvic and radiographic in-
dicators and especially dental attrition.
The lateral-anterior suture system is more
useful in the upper ages. Note that only one
case was observed to have progressed to full
closure at these sites (Table 6), while 13 cases
from the same sample showed complete fu-
sion of the vault sites (Table 7). While 42
(18%)of the specimens had not commenced
any lateral-anterior closure, about half this
number had totally open vault systems
(24 = 10%). The more protracted schedule of
closure of the lateral-anterior system is also
demonstrated by comparing the mean ages
for the increasing scores of each system.
All measures of dispersion around mean
age within each level of the composite score
indicate sizable overlap and variability. The
relationship between degree of closure and
age is therefore only general. It should be
noted that the standard and mean devia-
tions, as well as the interdecile ranges, are
generally smaller for the lateral-anterior sys-
tem (compared to the vault system).
The results obtained in this study show
that specific site assessment of the lateral-
anterior system provides substantially more
accurate age estimates than more traditional
scoring of the vault system. Table 8 provides
mean deviations obtained by Acsadi and Ne-
meskeri (1970) using endocranial, traditional
scoring of the vault sutures in a large sample
(N = 285). It may be noted that mean devia-
tions obtained in ectocranial scoring (this
study) are only half those of traditional meth-
 AGE DETERMINATION BY SUTURE CLOSURE 63

TABLE 4 . Modal Datterns of suture closure. earliest to latest

Coefficient of
reproducibility'
Commencement
Lateral-anterior Pterion-midcoronal-sphenofrontal- .92
inf. sphenotemporal-sup. sphenotemporal
Vault Obelion-pterion-anterior sagittal-lambda .90
-midlambdoid-midcoronal-bregma
Termination
Lateral-anterior Pterion-sphenofrontal-midcoronal- .97
inf. sphenotemporal-sup. sphenotemporal
Vault Obelion-pterion-anterior sagittal-lambda .91
-bregma-midlambdoid-midcoronal
(# sequence errors)
'This is a customary index for evaluating Guttman Scales: CR = 1 - (measures reflecting a single underlying
suture sites x cases
dimension tend to produce CR values between .90and 1.00).

TABLE 5. Linear correlations o f comDosite scores with ape'

No. r Slope (bl)
Lateral-anterior composite score
All active cases2 193 .57 ,165
Those observed not having
modally commenced removed3 145 .58 ,162
Those observed not having
modally terminated removed 173 .57 ,162

Vault composite score

All active cases 199 .50 ,221
Those observed not having
modallv commenced removed 126 .4 1 ,161
Those ocserved not having
modally terminated removed 129 .50 ,210
'The linear regressions are all (Score = bo + bl(Age)}. Curvilinear regressions of the form {Score = bo + bl(Age) + b2(AgeI2) did
not significantly improve the association of age and degree of closure in any of the above instances.
Vrania completely closed or completely open on the specific system used are omitted.
3For modal sequences see Table 4.

TABLE 6. Determination of age based on ectocranial lateral-anterior suture closure.

Composite Mean Standard Mean Inter-decile
score No. age dev. dev. range Range
0 (Open) 42 -43 -50
1 18 32.0 8.3 6.7 21-42 19-48
2 18 36.2 6.2 4.8 29-44 25-49
3,4,5 56 41.1 10.0 8.3 28-52 23-68
6 17 43.4 10.7 8.5 30-54 23-63
778 31 45.5 8.9 7.4 35-57 32-65
9, 10 29 51.9 12.5 10.2 39-69 33-76
11, 12, 13, 14 24 56.2 8.5 6.3 49-65 34-68
15 (Closed) - 1
236

TABLE 7. Determination of age based on ectocranial vault sutures

Composite Mean Standard Mean Inter-decile
score No. age dev. dev . range Range
0 (open) 24 -35 -49
1,2 12 30.5 9.6 7.4 19-44 18-45
3,4,5,6 30 34.7 7.8 6.4 23-45 22-48
7,8,9,10, 11 50 39.4 9.1 7.2 28-44 24-60
12, 13, 14, 15 50 45.2 12.6 10.3 31-65 24-75
16,17, 18 31 48.8 10.5 8.3 35-60 30-71
19,20 26 51.5 12.6 9.8 34-63 23-76
2 1 (Closed) -13 43- 40-
236
64 R.S. MEINDL AND C.O. LOVEJOY

TABLE 8. Determination o f ape based on endocranial vault suture closure‘

Mean closure Mean Mean
stage No. age deviation Range
0.4-1.5 16 28.6 13.08 15-40
1.6-2.5 29 43.7 14.46 30-60
2.6-2.9 17 49.1 16.40 35-65
3.0-3.9 162 60.0 13.23 45-75
4.0 (Closed) 61 65.4 14.05 50-80
2R5’
’Data after Ascadi and Nemeskeri (1970: table 32, page 12).
‘Original cadaver population reduced from a total of 402 specimens: 50 were pathological and 67 were
asymmetrically ossified.

20
z The effects of race and sex
0
15 As noted above, considerable disagreement
exists with respect to the role of sex and race
on the rate of suture closure. No formal tests
of the effects of these variables have yet been
conducted. Inasmuch as race and sex were
W known for all members of our sample, the
I error variance may be partitioned according
to the following linear model:

I I I I I actions, in which
30 40 50 60 70
AGE
Fig. 2. Mean deviations, (El real age-estimated age1
in), reported by Acsadi and Nemeskeri (1970) for tradi-
tional scoring method applied to endocranial suture clo-
sure and those found in the present study using
ectocranial observations for the lateral anterior system.
ods of aging by suture closure. The average
mean deviation in ectocranial scoring of the
lateral anterior system was 7.5 years while
traditional scoring of the vault sutures gave
a n average mean deviation of 14.2 years (Fig.
2). That this improvement is largely due to
ectocranial observation is born out by the
average mean deviation for the vault sutures
obtained in this study (which was only
slightly higher than for the lateral-anterior
system at 8.2 years). In addition, the mean
deviations obtained here compare quite fa-
vorably with those of some other aging tech-
niques (see Lovejoy et al., 1985). It should
also be noted that the Acsadi and Nemeskeri
data are taken from a “selected” sample (29%
were removed as atypical), whereas no cases
were removed for the present study. Thus the
opinions expressed a t the outset of this paper
are born out by current data.
Expected(EPijk) = y + ai + Pj + Yk + inter-
EP = Error in Prediction = predicted mi-
nus actual age for i = l , 2; j = l, 2; and
k = 1,2,. . . , 5
That is, the expected discrepancy between
actual and estimated age can be written as a
linear combination of a grand average error
( p ) plus or minus a specific factor depending
upon the sex (ail, race ((3j), and actual adult
age decade ( ~ k ) .The Yk and p should not be
significantly different from zero given that
the age functions were derived from the same
sample that will be used to test the other
main effects. The five-level age variable and
estimated effects (Yk) are merely employed as
covariates to provide a clearer test of the
effects of sex and race. It emerged that none
of the two-way or three-way effects ap-
proached significance in either analysis;
therefore, the estimates of variance in error
of prediction due to both sex and race are
sensitive and valid (Tables 9, 10).
The analyses of variance based on the
above model are clear indications that sex
and race contribute no measurable bias to
age prediction using either system. The small
test statistics for race and sex in both ANO-
VAS are less than unity, indicating that vir-
tually no systematic bias can be attributed
to these two main effects (Tables 9,lO). It may
therefore be concluded that both the lateral-
anterior and vault systems can be safely used
 AGE DETERMINATION BY SUTURE CLOSURE 65

TABLE 9. Factorial (threeway) analysis of variance, error‘ in age prediction, ectocranial lateral-anterior sutures
Source of Mean
variation df square F Probabilitv
Sex 1 6.02 .15 (ns) .50 < P < .75
Race 1 50 .01(ns) .90 < P
Age decade’ 4 (Covariate)
Interactions
All two-way 9 31.82 .80 (ns) 5 0 iP < .75
Three-way 4 14.04 .35 (ns) .75 <P
Residual 173 39.97

Total3 (n - 1) 192
‘Dependent variable: error in prediction, i.e., predicted age (based on lateral-anterior suture total) minus actual age
‘Actual age, polytomous covariate (five decades, starting with the twenties).
3Crania not active are omitted.

TABLE 10. Factorial (threeway) analysis of variance, error‘ in age prediction, ectocranial vault sutures
Source of Mean
variation df square F Probability
Sex 1 25.05 .73 (ns) .25 c P < 5 0
Race 1 2.25 .07 (ns) .75 < P < .90
Age decade 4 (Covariate)
Interactions
All two-way 9 52.63 1.53 (ns) .10 c; P < 2 5
Three-way 4 23.98 .70 (ns) 5 0 < P < .75
Residual 179 34.30

Total (n - 1) 198
‘Dependent variable: error in prediction, i.e., predicted age based on vault suture total) minus actual age. (Also see footnotes for
previous table.)

for both sexes and races (“Black”; “White”) Ectocranial scoring was used in test TI by
with no risk of introducing measurable bias. Lovejoy, et al. (1985). In that test the corre-
The classical factorial ANOVA is a very pow- lation with actual age was 5 3 . It was thus
erful inferential procedure, especially when superior to traditional pubic component sys-
it consists of nearly 200 random observations tems, equal to radiographic aging of the fe-
distributed among 20 sex-race-age sub- mur, and inferior to the auricular surface,
classes. However, it must remain an ex- functional dental wear, and revised pubic
tended conclusion that all racial “stocks” systems. Moreover, it should be pointed out
follow essentially the same patterns and that the system used in test IT was not com-
paces of cranial suture closure; however, the pletely developed, having been based on a
sample only half the size of that used to es-
effect of race on error in aging, if it does exist,
is probably very small. tablish standards presented in this paper.
The enlargement of sample size and further
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS testing of lateral-anterior sites have im-
No single skeletal indicator of age a t death proved the technique significantly, and ac-
is ever likely to accurately reflect the many curacy and bias found in test TI may now be
factors which accumulate with chronological considered, at worst, minimal estimates of
age, each of which can contribute valuable its accuracy and value as a n age indicator.
information to the age estimate. Any indica- Further development of suture closure as
tor which both significantly reflects biologi- a n age indicator is certainly suggested by the
cal age and whose informational content is present study. There appears to have been
independent of other indicators will be useful considerable prejudice with respect to its
to a final age estimate, whether under foren- value in the last few decades, as well as a n
sic or archaeological conditions. The above excessive reliance on historical attitudes and
data demonstrate that cranial suture closure conclusions, especially that the cranium is
is such a criterion. We do not wish to imply sensitive to racial and sexual variations of
that aging by means of suture closure is not closure rate, as well as the belief that endo-
without risk; such is clearly not the case. cranial observation is a superior indicator of
66 R.S. MEINDL AND C.O. LOVEJOY
age to ectocranial observation. Further re-
finements and blind tests may allow this in-
dicator to once again achieve a n important
and functional role in age determination in
both forensic and archaeological applications.
ACKNOWLElDGMENTS
The research reported in this paper was
funded by the National Science Foundation,
Division of Behavioral and Neural Sciences,
Award No. BNS-77-07958.
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