Age estimation at death using acetabulum: A review

Abstract

© 2019 Japan Health Sciences University & Japan International Cultural Exchange Foundation. Objective: This article aims to explain the overview of understanding of the anatomy of hip bone and acetabulum since its developmental processes. And also provide the background information of the estimation of age at death include various age estimation methods by using acetabulum and its limitation. Additionally, also give some ideas for the future studies. Materials and Methods: Numerous sources including specifically books and book chapters. Additionally, scientific journals which are literature research databases from PubMed, Google Scholar, Elsevier and Springer Verlag were used to collect the published literature. Results: The acetabulum is one of the most preserved parts and has slow growth process. Therefore, it has a long period of changes accompanying increase of age. Recently, researchers had attempted to advance the methodologies to estimate the age at death of adult and elderly from the acetabulum such as Rissech method in 2006, Calce method in 2012 and the currently published method by San-Millán M. in 2017. Each methodology to be used to analyze will distinguish basing on the morphological characteristic. These researches suggest that the acetabulum can be used as an indicator of age estimation by observing the morphological changes which are related to the aging process. Conclusion: By using acetabulum, there are many advantages, quite high accuracy and reliability for age estimation in the forensic contexts.