Among the many factors suggested as potential sources of variation in the rate of ageing of the pubic symphysis is occupational/physical activity, but this has yet to be demonstrated. This study's main goal is to determine whether occupational/physical activity influences the aging process in the pubic symphysis. We analyzed a sample of 161 males (18-96 years) from two Portuguese identified skeletal collections, where age-related features were recorded in the pubic symphysis as absent/present. The sample was divided in two groups according to the occupation of the individuals (manual and non-manual) and in two groups according to the femoral robusticity index (robust and gracile). The manual and robust groups represent individuals with more physically demanding occupations while the non-manual and gracile groups represent less physically demanding occupations. The possible influence of occupational/physical activity on the rate of ageing was evaluated by comparing the transition age for each age-related feature, between the two groups, using logistic regression. Only the ligamentous outgrowths on the ventral beveling showed a statistically significant younger age in the robust group, indicating a possible faster rate or early timing of change in the individuals with a more physically demanding activity compared with their gracile counterparts. Thus, these results do not provide significant support to the hypothesis that individuals with a greater demanding occupation or physical activity show greater pubic symphysis degeneration. Further testing of this hypothesis in other samples with individuals from known occupation is required.
Whenever age cannot be estimated from dental formation in immature human skeletal remains, other methods are required. In the post-natal period, development of the skeleton provides alternative age indicators, namely, those associated with skeletal maturity of the cranium. This study wishes to document the age at which the various ossification centres in the occipital bone fuse and provide readily available developmental probabilistic information for use in age estimation. A sample of 64 identified immature skeletons between birth and 8 years of age from the Lisbon collection was used (females = 29, males = 35). Results show that fusion occurs first in the posterior intra-occipital synchondrosis and between the jugular and condylar limbs of the lateral occipital to form the hypoglossal canal (1-4 years), followed by the anterior intra-occipital (3-7 years). Fusion of the post-natal occipital does not show differences in timing between males and females. Relative to other published sources, this study documents first and last ages of fusion of several ossification centres and the posterior probabilities of age given a certain stage of fusion. Given the least amount of overlap in stages of fusion, the closure of the hypoglossal canal provides the narrowest estimated age with the highest probability of age.
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