Age Estimation Through Skull Suture Evaluation: A Review of the Recent Literature

Age estimation is a critical component of forensic anthropology, assisting in the identi^ication of unknown individuals. The degree of cranial suture closure has long been associated with chronological age. This review aims to highlight the variability in age estimation based on cranial suture closure, with a focus on differences across studies, populations, and methodologies.

The literature from the last 12 years has been studied and summarised. Key studies focusing on age estimation techniques and proposed models were selected, reviewed, and compared to understand the accuracy and trends in age estimation methods.

The reviewed literature indicates that the onset of sagittal, coronal, and lambdoid suture fusion begins in the third decade of life, the completion age can vary from the fifth to seventh decades Statistical models showed moderate to weak correlations with age.

The reliance on broad age interval estimates is a limitation in establishing precise age determinations in forensic science. The variability in reported fusion ages may be attributed to differences in population characteristics, sample sizes, methodological approaches, and scoring systems, which warrants population-specific models for forensic age estimation.