Aspartic acid racemization: Applications to forensic and archaeological age estimation

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

Determining the age-at-death of human remains provides essential information for both forensic and archaeological scientists. For juveniles, it is possible to obtain highly accurate age estimates based on the known patterns of development of the skeleton. However, for adult remains estimating age is problematic. The majority of existing methods rely heavily on degenerative changes that take place in the skeleton as part of the aging process. These changes do not occur at the same rate in all individuals, leading to very broad age estimates (Aykroyd et al. 1999, Wittwer-Backofen et al. 2008). There is, therefore, a real need for the development of new methods for estimating age that are able to provide more accurate age estimates needed by forensic and archaeological scientists.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMechanisms Linking Aging, Diseases and Biological Age Estimation
EditorsSara C. Zapico
Number of pages10
PublisherCRC Press
Publication date1 Jan 2017
Pages47-56
Chapter5
ISBN (Print)978-1-4987-0969-9
ISBN (Electronic)9781498709705
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2017
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Age estimation, Archaeology, Aspartic acid racemization, Bone, Burial environment, Dentine, Diagenesis, Enamel, Forensic applications, Post mortem interval

ID: 227733992