The medieval time period is known for being a time filled with disease and grave hardships, with many lower-class individuals working very physical jobs and living on a nutrient deficient diet. The evidence of nutritional deficiency would present more prominently during the rapid growth experienced during developmental years. This study aims to assess long bone age, dental age, and bone fusion age to determine whether there are any significant differences in the aging methods that would suggest external factors such as disease and poor nutrition, that influenced the growth of long bones in the juvenile medieval Lincoln population. This study looks at the juvenile population from medieval Lincoln and focuses on comparing published skeletal age estimation methods against each other. Each skeleton was given four age estimations based on long bone diaphysis length, dental eruption, dental development, and epiphyseal bone fusion. The aging methods were examined through statistical tests, such as the paired t-test, aiming to assess the influence of external factors on long bone age by observing any significant differences between long bone age and dental age. The t-test comparing long bone age to dental eruption had a p-value of0.018. For long bone age and dental development, the p-value was found to be 0.028. The t-test reported good statistical agreement between the skeletal age of the long bones and the dental age of each skeleton indicating a consistent difference of over a year in mean age estimates between the dental age and long bone age of the skeletons. The long bone age was found to be 1.32-2. 73 years younger than the dental age. The findings support and suggest there is an external factor influencing the long bone growth and development for the juvenile Lincoln medieval population.
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