Re-evaluating the use of dental wear as a tool for estimating age at death in British archaeological skeletal remains

There are multiple methods for obtaining an age estimate from skeletal remains useing a variety of techniques. These estimates can help to provide a profile of an individual and are used in archaeology as an indicator of a population's health, providing an insight into past life and communities. In a forensic setting this insight could potentially lead to the identification of a missing person. In both situations obtaining an accurate and reliable age estimate is crucial and it is therefore necessary that the common methods used for this are assessed periodically. One of the ways in which a skeleton's age can be determined is through examining the dentition. Human dental development is used for age estimation as it more closely associated with chronological age than most other parts of the skeleton (White 2011). This means that until the permanent teeth have fully erupted the dentition can provide an accurate indication for age in sub---adult individuals. Many of these methods use tooth development as a means for obtaining age estimates. This can be broken down in to the following stages: crown initiation, crown completion,
crown eruption stages and the apex closure (Hillson 2014). However, Hillson (2014) notes that these development stages are not always easy to define.
This is because as a tooth develops a process of tissue mineralisation occurs and as a result the most recent tissue, which may not have been fully mineralised, may not be visible. It is also evident that individual human variation occurs and therefore may not fit into a particular stage. These
issues must be taken into consideration when examining an archaeological assemblage as it may affect the paleodemographic picture of a population by over -or under estimating the age of sub---adult individuals. Common techniques used in the teaching of age estimation of sub---adult
individuals include Ubelaker's (1978) chart of the development and eruption of deciduous and permanent teeth, which can provide an approximate age estimate for an individual. However, more accurate estimates may be obtained from the tables of "mean age of attainment" from Smith (1991). These tables depict the development stages of permanent mandibular teeth and are based on Moorrees et al. (1963a). Moorrees et al. (1963b) have also produced similar developmental stages for mandibular deciduous teeth. To use these systems each individual tooth should be examined and the developmental stage recorded. The "mean age of attainment" tables can then be used to establish an age estimate for sub---adult specimens. This system of using the mean age is the result of studies using few individuals as a sample, producing estimates that may not be evenly spread across an age range.
For additional insights into the estimation of age using dentition in adults the field of forensics and odontology should be considered. Kvaal et al. (1995) produced a technique using measurements taken from radiographs. These included the maximum tooth length, the pulp length, the root length on the mesial surface and the root and pulp width taken from six teeth. From regression formulas that were produced it was concluded that this might be a potential method for estimating the age at death of adults, although more sampling would be needed.
As with the Smith (1991) and Moorrees et al. (1963a,b) method, radiographs are used as a means for estimating age. This technique by Kvaal et al. also requires multiple, precise measurements, which means applying this method to archaeological collections may be lengthy and time consuming. However, including odontological and/or forensic techniques alongside traditional archaeological methods, new approaches for identifying more reliable age estimates for human skeletal material may be discovered.
There are multiple methods for aging human skeletal remains, all of which have strengths and weaknesses.