ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study aimed to determine the sex and estimate the age of individuals by analysing Raman spectra obtained from extracted teeth dentine. Material and methods: A total of 25 male and 26 female extracted teeth were collected, disinfected, and fixed in auto acrylate before being cut near the cervical margin. The inclusion criteria were non endodontically treated teeth with the cervical third of the tooth crown preserved. The exposed dentine was recorded using a Raman spectrometer, with 100 scans per dentine site in the spectral range of 3500 to 200 cm-1 and a resolution of 4 cm-1. Background-corrected, normalized, and decomposed spectra were subjected to principal component analysis using MATLAB 2010 (The MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA). To assess age differences, prominent vibrational bands were observed and statistically analyzed, while sex differentiation employed the T-test on acquired data, exploring vibrational bands with significant intensity differences. Results: The obtained results revealed a segmentation of spectra in the male sample group based on the age of teeth at extraction, with an accuracy of age estimation at 7.0048 years. A similar segmentation was observed in the female sample group, with an accuracy of 9.3863 years. Conclusion: The recorded spectra were organized into datasets and analyzed with principal component analysis, demonstrating the feasibility of sex determination and age estimation using Raman spectra of teeth. Differences in classification accuracy between sexes may be attributed to hormonally-mediated differences in the biochemical composition of dentine between males and females. The findings of this study can provide valuable insights into methods for forensic and anthropological applications.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the changes caused by macroabrasion of teeth on skeletal remains found in tomb No 4 in the west necropolis of the archeological site Kopila near Blato on the island of Korcula. The site archeologically dates back to the Late Iron Age, when the island was inhabited by the Illyrians. The aim of this study was to assess the dental age of the buried individuals at death and determine the type of their diet, which could give us a preliminary insight into the socio-economic standard of the inhabitants of the settlement. The analyzed sample is part of the collection of excavated skeletal remains kept in the Vela Luka Cultural Center on the island of Korcula. 284 permanent teeth, 19 fragments of the maxilla and 20 fragments of the mandible were found in the tomb, which were classified into 32 individuals and by sex. Teeth were analyzed by metric and non-metric methods of determining dental status in order to assess the dental age at the time of death and the diet of the inhabitants. The dental age of individuals was determined by the Lovejoy method and the degree of tooth wear by the Smith-Knight method. The analysis of the stable isotope 14C determined the exact time of death of the analyzed individuals. The tooth wear changes were very pronounced and present on 92.9% of teeth, equally on incisors and molars (p = 0.236). There is no significant gender difference (p > 0.05 for all teeth and jaw parts). There was no difference in the degree of tooth wear of the teeth of the mandible and maxilla (t = -0.266, p = 0.791), nor in the degree of tooth wear of the teeth of the maxilla right and left (t = -0.392, p = 0.702) or in the degree of tooth wear of the teeth of the mandible right and left (t = -0.889, p = 0.390). The average age of the analyzed population sample was 35.6 (±3.1) years. They were buried between 360-40 BC. Tooth wear changes observed on the analyzed teeth indicate a diet rich in hard, weakly cariogenic food with particles that were probably of inorganic origin, which caused an increased wear of tooth structures. The population was sedentary, agricultural type and the life expectancy was normal for the Late Iron Age. Besides, their socio-economic status was good. The age at the time of their death was between 30 and 40 years. Further studies should include more accurate and standardized methods for assessing the condition.
