Abstract
Research on the identification of human skeletal remains, though abundant, lacks a centralized methodology that accounts for population-specific variations in the timing of epiphyseal fusion in subadults. The most depended-upon methods of skeletal aging yield varying results. By building a compendium of these studies’ findings and exploring how they were reached, researchers may be able to better understand how to interpret their own results within the context of their source populations. In the process, overlaps and discontinuities in age estimations across methods may be used to begin tailoring a global standard for skeletal identification that can be performed irrespective of region or ancestry. Investigation into the populations of origin used by major methodological sources (namely, works published by Flecker (1942), McKern & Stewart (1957), Paterson (1929), Stevenson (1924), and Webb & Suchey (1985)) would enable a clearer understanding of variations in human skeletal traits and aging patterns on a population level.