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
The aforementioned publications did not even bring up the possibility of the utilisation of any other amino acid but Asp for individual age estimation. CSAPÓ et al. (1994, 1998) established the racemisation half-periods of amino acids. They found the racemisation half-period of Asp was 13,500 years, that of histidine (His) 5500 years, the half-period of phenylalanine (Phe) was 8500 years, that of tyrosine (Tyr) was 13,500 years. Serine (Ser) had a value of 16,500 years, threonine (Thr) had a half-period of 17,000 years, while Glu bore one of 28,500 years. Alanine (Ala) had a racemisation half-period of 32,000 years, isoleucine (He) had one of 110,000 years, leucine (Leu) had one of 140,000 years and valine (Val) 180,000. Consequently D-enantiomers of amino acids with faster racemisation than that of Asp (namely His, Phe, Tyr) promise to be just as good indicators of individual age as Asp is. The two amino acids falling between Asp and Glu (Ser, Thr) could also provide useful information on age. ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE POPULATION ANALYSED Kereki is a village to the south of Lake Balaton and to the south of Kőröshegy as well. There in a sandpit an Avar cemetery came to light there and its rescue excavation uncovered 151 graves in 1987-1988 (KÖLTŐ 1988, 1991). Four groups of graves constituted this untouched cemetery of a late Avar community. The people buried there bore markedly archaic features. Burials took place for 3^4 generations probably from the first third of the 8 th Century. A peculiarity of this cemetery was that the unusually undisturbed (for this period) graves contained 21 beltgarnitures. "CLASSIC" AGE ESTIMATION METHODS OF ANTHROPOLOGY The possible most accurate estimation of age at the time of death was considered especially important for the paleodemografical and paleoostomatological analysis of the historical population of Kereki-Homokbánya (BERNÉRT 1996«, SZIKOSSY & BERNÉRT 1996), therefore we applied a quite large number of internationally accepted age estimation methods. On adults we examined the changes of the sternal ends of ribs (ISCAN et al. 1984, 1985), the surface alterations of os pubis fades symphyseosa (TODD, cit. UBELAKER 1989), and the degree of ectocranial (MEINDL & LOVEJOY 1985,
