The utility of innominate dry bone weight in age estimation: A new pelvic aging method

by Andrea M. Zurek-Ost, Mark Sorensen This research investigated the relationships between bone weight, chronological age, and biological sex.

This study examined 383 innominates from individuals aged 16–93 years to investigate how bone weight (here a proxy for bone mineral density) was patterned throughout the lifespan. Standard osteology laboratory equipment as well as a scale were used to measure innominate height and dry bone weight.

Dry bone weight is an imperfect proxy for bone mineral density; however, the phenomenon of decreases in bone weight with age was observed and quantified in this dry bone sample. While both males and females are affected by a slow reduction in bone mineral density over the course of their lifespans, this effect is exaggerated in females and was reflected in the study results.

To quantify these changes, the authors created predictive Bayesian linear models to estimate age at death from dry bone weight, height, and biological sex. The best performing model R 2 was 0.33, with an average inaccuracy of 9.37 years.