Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 93. (Budapest 2001)
Csapó, J., Bernert, Zs. , Csapó, Zs. , Pohn, G. , Csapó-Kiss, Zs. , Költő, L. , Szikossy, I. ; Némethy, S.: Introduction of amino acid racemisation based age estimation into paleoanthropological [sic] research
ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 93 Budapest, 2001 pp. 239-257. Introduction of amino acid racemisation based age estimation into paleoanthropological research J. CSAPÓ'-, ZS. BERNÉRT-, ZS. CSAPÓ 1 , G. POHN 1 , Zs. CSAPÓ-KISS 1 L. KÖLTŐ', I. SZIKOSSY 2 & S. NÉMETHY' 'University of Kaposvár, Faculty of Animal Sciences, Department of Biochemistry and Foodstuff Chemistry, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. u. 40, Hungary. E-mail: csapo@mcdl.atk.u-kaposvar.hu Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Anthropology H-1082 Budapest, Ludovika tér 2, Hungary. E-mail: bernert@ant.nhmus.hu ' University of Pécs, Faculty of Jurisprudence, H-7622 Pécs, 48-as tér 1, Hungary E-mail: csapozs@pte.ajk.hu Directorate of Somogy County Museums, H-7400 Kaposvár, Fő u. 10, Hungary E-mail: Kol to @ smmi. hu Ostrami Limited, 66 Cleveland Avenue, Darlington, Co. Durham, DL3 7HG, Great Britain Csapó, J., Bernért, Zs., Csapó, Zs., Pohn, G., Csapó-Kiss, Zs., Költő, L., Szikossy, I. & Némethy, S. (2001): Introduction of amino acid racemisation based age estimation into paleoanthropological research. - Annales historico-naturale s Musei nationalis hungarici 93: 239-257. Abstract - This study describes the application and results of an age estimation method so far not introduced into the inventory of historical anthropology. The authors analysed the teeth of 126 individuals (age range 17-86 years) and found a high degree of correlation between D-aspartic acid content, D/L rate of aspartic acid and the individual age of specimens. They developed a method for age determination based on D-aspartic acid content and on the racemisation of L-aspartic acid of teeth. D-glutamic acid, beside aspartic acid, was found to be eminently suitable for the estimation of individual age, as it showed a sufficiently high sensitivity. Calibration curves based on these investigations were used for the age estimation of 65 adults (39 males and 26 females) of unknown individual age from the Avar Period series of Kereki-Homokbánya (Hungary). The age distribution of the sample was the following: 39 individuals (60%) belonged to the adult age group, 22 persons (34%) to the mature and 4 (6%) to the senile one. The correlation between our results and those obtained using standard paleoanthropological methods was over 0.9. With 3 figures and 5 tables. Key words - Amino acid racemisation, D-aspartic acid, D-glutamic acid, age estimation, dental method, physical anthropology, Avar Period. Correspondence to JÁNOS CSAPÓ and to ZSOLT BERNÉRT.
