Estimating puberty in a prehistoric skeletal collection.

Area of Science:

• Paleoanthropology
• Bioarchaeology
• Human Osteology

Background:

• Assessing pubertal onset in prehistoric populations is challenging due to limited direct evidence.
• Skeletal development, particularly epiphyseal fusion, correlates with hormonal changes during puberty.
• Previous methods for estimating age at death in sub-adults have limitations for pinpointing pubertal timing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and apply a novel method for estimating the age of puberty in prehistoric skeletal remains.
• To compare dental age-at-death with skeletal fusion data for validation.
• To estimate the age of pubertal onset in a specific prehistoric skeletal sample from the Moundville site.

Main Methods:

• Utilized epiphyseal fusion stages of the distal humerus, proximal radius, proximal ulna, ilium, ischium, and pubis.
• Collected dental age-at-death data from 22 sub-adult individuals.
• Applied the fusion-based method to a skeletal sample from the Moundville site (1TU500), Alabama, USA.

Main Results:

• The study estimated the age of pubertal onset in the Moundville skeletal sample to be 14.95 +/- 2.53 years for both males and females.
• This represents an initial application of the epiphyseal fusion method to a small dataset.
• The findings provide a baseline for future, larger-scale applications of this methodology.

Conclusions:

• The developed method offers a viable approach for estimating pubertal age in prehistoric skeletal collections.
• Future large-scale applications could illuminate reproductive lifespans and the impact of environmental factors on sexual development in past populations.
• This research contributes to a better understanding of adolescent development in ancient human groups.