Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

As for the type of burial, subadult
individuals turned out to be buried either
singly or in pairs or multiple burials. Those
buried in twos were found together with
either an adult male or female, probably the
father or mother respectively, or another
child (burials nos. 188 and 177). Those
who were buried in multiple burials were
found both with adult and young indi-
viduals, probably other members of the
family (e.g. burials nos. 181 and 184).
A crucial point in the study of skeletal
samples is the question of bone pre-
servation. It is widely believed that the
smallness and fragility of the bones of
infants, children and young individuals
make them more susceptible to decay
compared to the robust adult bones. The

state of the 43 subadult skeletal remains
excavated at West Saqqara to date ranged
from only a few fragments to complete
skeletons. Dental, diaphyseal or both
indicators sufficient for age estimation
were preserved in all but five of the
subadult skeletons.
The studied sample is presented in
Table 1 on the following pages. The total
number of individuals studied in the
present work included two infants aged less
than one year old at death, 16 children aged
from 1 to 7 years at death, 13 children who
died at age 7-14 and seven adolescents who
died between the 14th and 18th year of
their lives. In five cases skeletal remains
were insufficient for a reliable assessment of
the age at death.

ESTIMATING AGE AT DEATH

Estimation of age at death of subadult
individuals involves establishing physio-
logical age. The latter has been assessed
from developmental changes in the tissues
correlated to chronological age. The most
commonly used indicators of physiological
maturity in subadult skeletons are dental
maturity, the appearance and union of bony
epiphyses and bone (diaphyseal) size. Re-
ference standards for age evaluation derive
from data collected for living samples.
In studying skeletal remains from
Saqqara I have found that teeth were
frequently the only human tissues available
for scientific inquiry from burial contexts
where bones might not be well preserved.
This remark corroborates the belief that

dentition is of special importance in studies
of ancient people for the accuracy of age at
death estimates, dietary reconstruction,
health status, disease and genetic affinity.5)
In our study each individual (except for the
five incomplete skeletons, cf. above) was
aged according to the sequence of
formation and eruption of teeth. Standards
developed by Moorrees et al., Demirjian et
al. and Ubelaker were used.6) The Moorrees
and Demirjian reference standards of tooth
formation for deciduous and permanent
teeth demonstrated that numeric estimates
of dental age should be extrapolated from
the charts. Therefore, in order to maximize
the reliability of dental age estimation all
three methods were used simultaneously.

5) Numerous books have been published on dental anthropology since the first one edited by D.R. Brothwell, Dental
Anthropology (Oxford-London-New York-Paris 1963), e.g. D.R. Brothwell, “The relationship of toothwear to aging”, in:
Age Markers in the Human Skeleton, ed. M.Y. Iscan (Springfield 1989); D.H. Ubelaker, Human Skeletal Remains, 2nd ed.
(Washington 1989) or M.A. Kelley and C.S. Larsen (eds.), Advances in Dental Anthropology (New York 1991).
6) C.F.A. Moorrees, E.A. Fanning and E.E. Hunt, "Age variation of formation stages for ten permanent teeth”, J Dent Res
42 (1963), 1490-1501; A. Demirjian, H. Goldstein, J.M. Tanner, “A new system of dental assessment” Hum Biol 45 (1973),
211-228; J.E. Buikstra and D.H. Ubelaker, Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains, Arkansas
Archeological Survey Research Series No. 44 (1994).

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