Alessandro di Luca
Italy
Research Article
A Preliminary Study of the Relationship between Obliteration of Cranial Sutures and Age at Time of Death
Author(s): Laura Donato, Luigi Cipolloni, Al Ozonoff and Alessandro di LucaLaura Donato, Luigi Cipolloni, Al Ozonoff and Alessandro di Luca
During a forensic investigation, the determination of age at death is typically based on the level of skeletal development. Cranial sutures may help a forensic investigator to determine age at death since there is a predictable interval of age linked to their obliteration. The progression of the obliteration is divided in four stages (from 0 to 3), with the last stage indicating complete obliteration, and specific locations on the sutures are considered most useful for the estimation of age at death. However as more of the sutures are obliterated, the traditionally reported interval of age at death grows wider, with a complete obliteration of the sutures referred to a range of 34 to 76 years. Thus one would expect that the cranial sutures of an older person should be completely obliterated. When completely closed, which should happen over the age of 80 years, the sutures nearly disapp.. View More»
