RT Journal Article
T1 Age estimation from stages of union of the vertebral epiphyses of the ribs
A1 Ríos Frutos, Luis Francisco
A1 Cardoso, Hugo
AB This study attempts to fill a persistent gap in the literature by documenting the timing of epiphyseal union at the vertebral end of the ribs in a sample of modern Portuguese skeletons. The skeletal remains of 53 females and 45 males, between the ages of 11 and 30, were taken from the Lisbon documented skeletal collection. Individuals in the sample have been previously described as being representative of a middle‐to‐low socioeconomic segment of the early 20th century Lisbon population. Three anatomical locations were examined for epiphyseal union: the head, the articular tubercle and the nonarticular tubercle. The first epiphysis to show partial union is that of the nonarticular tubercle (females, 11–19 years; males, 11–19 years), followed by the epiphysis of the articular tubercle (females, 11–20 years; males, 16–20 years), and finally by the head epiphysis (females, 15–24 years; males, 16–22 years), which can still show incomplete epiphyseal closure at 25 and 24 years for females and males, respectively. A trend for earlier female maturation was observed, but the statistical tests only confirmed this result for some ribs and age groups. No directional asymmetry was found, but a significant fluctuating asymmetry was observed in all three epiphyses. A preliminary analysis showed that the asymmetric group of individuals in the study sample includes all the rural‐to‐urban migrants, relative to the symmetric group. Am J Phys Anthropol,
PB Wiley
SN 0002-9483
YR 2009
FD 2009
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/100638
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/100638
LA eng
NO Ríos, Luis, y Hugo F. V. Cardoso. «Age Estimation from Stages of Union of the Vertebral Epiphyses of the Ribs». American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 140, n.o 2, octubre de 2009, pp. 265-74. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21065.
NO The research trip to Lisbon of L.R. was supported by a grant from the Programa de Movilidad de Personal Joven Investigador from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
NO Portuguese Foundation for Research and Technology
NO Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 10 abr 2025