Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature, humidity and soil chemistry. A categorization of weathering characteristics into six stages, recognizable on descriptive criteria, provides a basis for investigation of weathering rates and processes. The time necessary to achieve each successive weathering stage has been calibrated using known-age carcasses. Most bones decompose beyond recognition in 10 to 15 yr. Bones of animals under 100 kg and juveniles appear to weather more rapidly than bones of large animals or adults. Small-scale rather than widespread environmental factors seem to have greatest influence on weathering characteristics and rates. Bone weathering is potentially valuable as evidence for the period of time represented in recent or fossil bone assemblages, in- cluding those on archeological sites, and may also be an important tool in censusing populations of animals in modern ecosystems.

Taphonomic and Ecologic Information Form Bone Weathering

This paper details MORPH a longitudinal face database developed for researchers investigating all facets of adult age-progression, e.g. face modeling, photo-realistic animation, face recognition, etc. This database contributes to several active research areas, most notably face recognition, by providing: the largest set of publicly available longitudinal images; longitudinal spans from a few months to over twenty years; and, the inclusion of key physical parameters that affect aging appearance. The direct contribution of this data corpus for face recognition is highlighted in the evaluation of a standard face recognition algorithm, which illustrates the impact that age-progression, has on recognition rates. Assessment of the efficacy of this algorithm is evaluated against the variables of gender and racial origin. This work further concludes that the problem of age-progression on face recognition (FR) is not unique to the algorithm used in this work.

MORPH: a longitudinal image database of normal adult age-progression

Metamorphosis at the sternal extremity of the rib has already been established as a reliable indicator of age at death. Using a sample of white males, it was shown that an accurate estimation of age can be made by direct examination of the bone itself. However, because of sexual differences in hormonal production and dimorphism in the skeleton, the present study was carried out to develop an appropriate standard for age determination from the sternal rib in white females. The sample consisted of 86 ribs of known age, sex, and race. Observations were made at the costochondral junction with special attention to pit formation (its shape and depth), changes in the walls and rim surrounding it, and overall bone density and texture. Based on changes in these areas, the ribs were separated into nine phases (0 through 8). The most rapid metamorphosis occurred in Phases 1 through 4 (mean ages 14-28) with changes noticeable at 3 to 4 year intervals. After mean age 28, this process slowed, considerably expanding the interval between phases to 10 to 15 years. The female ribs showed both earlier initial pit formation and a different morphologic pattern of aging as compared with males. Statistical analysis revealed that the features chosen to delineate the phases are valid predictors of age. This study has shown that the sternal rib can provide an accurate estimation of age in females spanning a mean age of 14 to 76 years.

Age estimation from the rib by phase analysis: white males

A dead mammal (i.e. cadaver) is a high quality resource (narrow carbon:nitrogen ratio, high water content) that releases an intense, localised pulse of carbon and nutrients into the soil upon decomposition. Despite the fact that as much as 5,000 kg of cadaver can be introduced to a square kilometre of terrestrial ecosystem each year, cadaver decomposition remains a neglected microsere. Here we review the processes associated with the introduction of cadaver-derived carbon and nutrients into soil from forensic and ecological settings to show that cadaver decomposition can have a greater, albeit localised, effect on belowground ecology than plant and faecal resources. Cadaveric materials are rapidly introduced to belowground floral and faunal communities, which results in the formation of a highly concentrated island of fertility, or cadaver decomposition island (CDI). CDIs are associated with increased soil microbial biomass, microbial activity (C mineralisation) and nematode abundance. Each CDI is an ephemeral natural disturbance that, in addition to releasing energy and nutrients to the wider ecosystem, acts as a hub by receiving these materials in the form of dead insects, exuvia and puparia, faecal matter (from scavengers, grazers and predators) and feathers (from avian scavengers and predators). As such, CDIs contribute to landscape heterogeneity. Furthermore, CDIs are a specialised habitat for a number of flies, beetles and pioneer vegetation, which enhances biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems.

/pdf/cadaver-decomposition-in-terrestrial-ecosystems-4mxyy4vi1i.pdf

Cadaver decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems

https://www.dentalage.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/cunha_e_et_al_2009_aging-human-remains-a-review.pdf

The problem of aging human remains and living individuals: a review.

Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton: An Introduction (M. Iscan & K. Kennedy). Assessment of Growth and Age in the Immature Skeleton (F. Johnston & L. Zimmer). Osteological Manifestations of Age in the Adult (M. Iscan & S. Loth). Histomorphometric Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains (S. Stout). Determination of Sex and Race: Accuracy and Assumptions (L. Hoyme & M. Iscan). Nonmetric Skeletal Variation (S. Saunders). Congenital Abnormalities in Skeletal Populations (S. Turkel). Skeletal Markers of Occupational Stress (K. Kennedy). Trauma (C. Merbs). Infectious Disease (M. Kelley). Nutritional Deficiency Diseases: A Survey of Scurvy, Rickets, and Iron-Deficiency Anemia (P. Stuart-Macadam). Stable Isotope Analysis of Prehistoric Diet (W. Keegan). Chemical Analysis of Skeletal Remains (A. Aufderheide). Dental Paleopathology: Methods for Reconstructing Dietary Patterns (J. Lukacs). Osteobiography: A Maya Example (F. Saul & J. Saul). Index.

Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton

While the pubic symphysis and intracortical morphometry have provided successful results in estimating age at death, other methods and sites in the skeleton are needed to improve the accuracy of age estimation. This research is an attempt to develop a new age-determination technique by using the sternal extremity of the rib. The right fourth rib was collected at autopsy from 93 white males. The sternal extremity of each rib was analyzed in relation to the pit depth (component I), pit shape (component II), and rim and wall configurations (component III), each of which was divided into six stages. Results indicated that the age at death can be estimated from a rib within about 2 years in the second decade to about 7 years in the fifth and sixth decades of life. Pit shape and rim and wall configurations yielded better results than absolute pit depth alone. While this method has a potentially important contribution to skeletal anthropology, factors such as sex differences and biomechanical variation between individuals may affect the determination of age from the rib.

http://references.260mb.com/Edad/Iscan1984.pdf

Mehmet Yaşar İşcan

Papers

Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton

Metamorphosis at the Sternal Rib End: a New Method To Estimate Age At Death in White Males

Forensic anthropology of sex and body size

Age Markers in the Human Skeleton

Sexual variation in bucco-lingual dimensions in Turkish dentition