Estimation of adult age‐at‐death from entheseal robusticity: A test using an identified Italian skeletal collection

Objectives: The present study tests the effectiveness of entheseal robusticity (ER) as
a potential predictor of adult age-at-death by applying multiple regression models to
a large contemporary identified skeletal sample.
Materials and Methods: ER was recorded for 23 bilateral postcranial entheses on
481 adult individuals (271 females and 210 males) from the Frassetto identified skeletal
collection of Sassari (Italy), following the method of Mariotti et al. 2007. ER
scores were used as predictors in multiple regression analyses with age as the dependent
variable; the performance of the resulting models was tested through standard
error of estimate, the correlation coefficient between predicted and documented
age, and the percentage of correctly classified individuals.
Results: ER show a higher correlation with age in females, resulting in more accurate
estimates when compared with those obtained for males. Age-at-death is overestimated
for male individuals under 45 years old and underestimated for older individuals.
Regression models including a reduced set of ER sites result in better
estimates compared with those using the complete set of variables.
Discussion: Results suggest the potential usefulness of ER for the estimation of age,
especially for female skeletal remains. If used with caution, ER may be a valid complement
to existing methods for the reconstruction of the biological profile of skeletal
remains of archaeological and forensic interest.