Authors

Detelina Stoyanova, Dennis Slice

Title

A Computational Method For Age-At-Death Estimation Based On The Pubic Symphysis

Abstract

A significant component of forensic science is analyzing bones to assess the age-at-death of an individual. Forensic anthropologists often include the pubic symphysis in their studies. Subjective methods, such as the Suchey-Brooks method, are currently used to analyze the pubic symphysis. This project examines a more objective, quantitative method. The method analyzes 3D surface scans of the pubic symphysis and implements a thin plate spline algorithm which models the bending of a flat plane to approximately match the surface of the bone. The algorithm minimizes the bending energy required for this transformation. Results presented here show that there is a correlation between the minimum bending energy and the age-at-death of the individual. The method could be useful to medico-legal practitioners.