Adult females and pubic bone growth

Previous research (Tague [1994] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 95:27-40) has shown an age effect in pubic bone length among adult women. Tague found that in three prehistoric Native American skeletal samples, women aged 18-24 had a significantly shorter linea terminalis than did women aged 25 and older. The purpose of this research is to determine whether such a difference can be discerned in other female skeletal samples. Three female skeletal samples were used in this analysis: 75 African-American and 42 European-American females aged 18-39 from the Hamann-Todd Collection (collected between 1893 and 1938; Iscan, 1990) and 99 African-American females aged 18-39 from the Terry Collection (collected between 1914 and 1965; Cobb, 1933; Iscan, 1990). Several chord measurements of pubic bone length along the linea terminalis were analyzed by one-tailed t-tests of the separate samples subdivided into two age groups: 18-24 and 25-39 years. Of 15 comparisons between age groups, none differed significantly by age group within each sample. It is concluded that the observed significant difference in pubic bone length in the Native American female skeletal samples cannot be replicated in other samples and that there is no age effect on pubic bone length in the samples tested in this analysis. Tague's findings reflect either the occurrence of late menarche in prehistoric populations or differential survivorship.