Reliability of age at death in the hamann-todd collection: Validity of subselection procedures used in blind tests of the summary age technique

✍ Scribed by Richard S. Meindl; Katherine F. Russell; C. Owen Lovejoy

• Book ID: 102704526
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1010 KB
• Volume: 83
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330830308

✦ Synopsis

The blind test procedures used by Lovejoy et al., (Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68:l-14, 1985a) have been criticized because they used the Ha- mann-Todd collection as their known-age population. It has been suggested that variation within this sample was reduced by selection procedures designed to ensure accuracy of age at death. Powerful statistical tests for differences in dispersion of ages for pubic symphyseal stages were applied to comparisons between their core sample (N = 238) and those of a large autopsyroom collection used to develop the Suchey-Brooks System (N = 530). The variances in ages of the selected Hamann-Todd Sample are not reduced. The careful subselection of specimens has resulted in a valid statistical core sample for use in the development of aging methodologies.

These individuals [specimens in the CCI were born throughout the United States and 31 foreign countries. Because of the types of cases being autopsied and the widespread geographical origin of the individuals, the sample is broader and should be more appropriate for forensic age Address reprint requests to