The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate the utility of the width of
the epiphyses and metaphyses of the femur and tibia at the knee in estimating age at
death in subadult skeletons. The study sample was taken from the Lisbon documented
skeletal collection (NMN H, Lisbon, Portugal) and it comprises 84 individuals (males,
47; females, 37) between 9 months and 18 years. Simple linear regression models and r2
values were calculated for the relationship between chronological age and epiphyseal and
metaphyseal width for the sex-pooled sample. Linear regression models were calibrated
to obtain prediction equations. Mean standard error (MSE ) and mean 95% confidence
interval (MC I) were calculated for all equations. Results show that epiphyseal widths
correlate better with chronological age (femur: r2=0.91; tibia, r2=0.93) than metaphyseal
widths (femur: r2=0.87; tibia, r2=0.89). At the knee, the distal femoral metaphysis is the
most accurate site for age estimation (MSE : 1.52 years; MC I: ±3.05 years)