Abstract
This paper reports the usefulness of the cranial suture closure in the age estimation. Using samples of 141 Japanese male skulls, the reliability of the suture closures as the age indicator was examined by means of multiple regression analysis and quantification theory model I analysis. The results indicate that (1) the endocranial suture closure has the higher reliablity than the entocranial one and is serviceable enough for the age assessment, and (2) quantification theory model I analysis is more reliable than multiple regression analysis in the age estimation from the cranial suture closure. The methods presented here can be applied to only the male samples between 20 and 58 years of age.
