An Exploration of Histological Variation in the Human Rib: Applications for Age Estimation Methods in Applied Anthropology

This dissertation consists of three discreet manuscripts intended for publication in forensic and bone biology journals that address issues related to histological age-at-death estimation of the human rib. The overarching sample for the dissertation consists of N=246 individuals from three North American locations ranging in age from 16-102 years (M=55, SD=20.23). The locations include the Texas State University Comparative Histological Collection (TXSTCHC) (n=160, M=57.34, SD=19.65), the Xóclan Collection from the Universidad Autonóma de Yucatán (UAY) (n=50, M=54.86, SD=20.66), and the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) (n=37, M=42.4, SD=17.97). Each included manuscript uses a unique subset of the overall sample with manuscript-specific variables including osteon population density (OPD), intact osteon population density (iOPD), fragmentary osteon population density (fOPD), type II osteon population density (tIIOPD), drifting osteon population density (dOPD), primary osteon population density (pOPD), osteon area (On.Ar), Haversian canal area (H.Ar), osteon circularity (On.Cr), total area (Tt.Ar), endosteal area (Es.Ar), cortical area (Ct.Ar), relative cortical area (Rt.Ct.Ar), postcranial measurements, known sex, and known age-at-death. The first manuscript focuses on exploring the relationship between body size, histomorphometrics, and bone mass in a known sample of N=155 midthoracic ribs from the US and Mexico with known postcranial measurements and known sex. The second manuscript explores the potential of non-traditional osteon morphotypes as predictor variables for histological age-at-death estimation across the adult lifespan from a sample of N=246 midthoracic ribs. The third manuscript applies random forest modeling to histological age-at-death estimation using N=246 midthoracic human ribs incorporating nontraditional osteon morphotypes with flexible variable inclusion. Together, the three manuscripts in this dissertation contribute to a holistic understanding of how histomorphometric predictor variables for age-at-death estimation can be influenced by intrinsic variation and be incorporated into new random forest histological age-at-death estimation methods. Future research building from this dissertation’s findings is also discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Applied Anthropology

Grantor

Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Mavroudas, Sophia

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Herrmann, Nicholas P.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Crowder, Christian M.
• Spradley, M. Kate
• Wescott, Daniel J.

• bone histology
• age-at-death
• applied anthropology

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/20084

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/20084