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Variation in Osteon Circularity and Its Impact on Estimating Age at Death

Goliath, Jesse Roberto
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1273762376

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Anthropology.
Researchers have implemented many histomorphometric techniques to estimate age at death for human skeletal remains. While previous studies have reported relations between osteon size and age, few studies have focused on the shape of secondary osteons. Osteon circularity (On.Cr) is a factor potentially affecting histological estimations. Additionally, with age the numbers of observable osteons and osteon fragments increase and an asymptotic value for osteon population density (OPD) is eventually achieved. The cortex of bones reaches asymptote by 60 years of age, but it can occur as early as age 50. Once asymptote is reached, histological methods can no longer produce reliable age at death estimations. The purpose of this study is to establish if circularity differs between young and old age groups, and whether observed On.Cr is due to the effects of increasing OPD per unit area and osteon size (area; On.Ar) on the shape of osteons. To determine circularity, osteons were measured from thin (~100µm) cross-sections of femora and ribs of 29 individuals under and over the age of 50 from a modern cadaver sample of known age at death. The observed results support the observations of Currey (1964) and Britz et al. (2009) that osteon cross-sectional shape becomes more circular with age. With the increase in the number of osteons and their fragments per unit area (OPD) with age, the probability of eccentric and larger osteons surviving to be measured decreased considerably. This finding may be useful to help identify if a bone has reached its OPD asymptote, or even help refine our ability to estimate age for older individuals.
Sam D. Stout, PhD (Committee Chair)
Douglas E. Crews, PhD (Committee Member)
Clark Spencer Larsen, PhD (Committee Member)
42 p.
Biology; Microbiology; Physical Anthropology
age estimation; bone remodeling; osteon circularity; bone histomorphometry; cortical bone

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Goliath, J. R. (2010). Variation in Osteon Circularity and Its Impact on Estimating Age at Death [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1273762376

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Goliath, Jesse. Variation in Osteon Circularity and Its Impact on Estimating Age at Death. 2010. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1273762376.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Goliath, Jesse. "Variation in Osteon Circularity and Its Impact on Estimating Age at Death." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1273762376

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1273762376
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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.