A Preliminary Study of the Relationship between Obliteration of Cranial Sutures and Age at Time of Death

During a forensic investigation, the determination of age at death is typically based on the level of skeletal development. Cranial sutures may help a forensic investigator to determine age at death since there is a predictable interval of age linked to their obliteration. The progression of the obliteration is divided in four stages (from 0 to 3), with the last stage indicating complete obliteration, and specific locations on the sutures are considered most useful for the estimation of age at death. However as more of the sutures are obliterated, the traditionally reported interval of age at death grows wider, with a complete obliteration of the sutures referred to a range of 34 to 76 years. Thus one would expect that the cranial sutures of an older person should be completely obliterated. When completely closed, which should happen over the age of 80 years, the sutures nearly disappear and at the last level of obliteration they are no longer visible, in this preliminary study, the authors analyzed a sample of 100 skull photographs taken during post mortem examinations. This study is focused on a macroscopic study of sagittal and coronal sutures. In some cases, the complete obliteration of cranial sutures was visible for individuals with age ranging from 60 to 70 years old. In particular the authors observed the presence of sutures that were not completely obliterated in subjects aged more than 70 years. The aims of this study were to draw attention to these features; to avoid misinterpretation about the age of skeletal remains; and to offer evidence that these criteria may not be reliable for forensic investigation, at least until further study and recalibration to known data.