The present research aims to determine the age at which red deer (Cervus elaphus) specimens died by examining their upper dentition. We analyzed eighty free-ranging individuals from southern Spain to establish a reference database for age calculation. The age of these individuals was identified by the mandibular teeth inferred from their known death years and the maxillary teeth were evaluated relative to them. As a result, we have provided three non-destructive methods: a description of the eruption sequence and dental replacement, a referential code for occlusal wear stages, and a regression analysis considering the height of the cusps in both upper and lower dentition. These methods offer the possibility of estimating the age at which the animals died and categorizing them into specific age groups. To evaluate the practicality of this method, we applied it to the Middle Paleolithic archaeological site of Abric Romaní. All the proposed methods allow us to approximate the age at death of red deer individuals. The most accurate results, whenever feasible, are obtained by combining these different methods. This study facilitates the inclusion of upper dentition fossils that have traditionally been omitted from the analysis in archaeological sites, allowing a better adjustment of the quantitative methods used to calculate the number of skeletal elements and the number of individuals. This, in turn, enables a more accurate construction of the anatomical and mortality profiles.

本研究旨在通过检查马鹿（Cervus elaphus ）的上牙列来确定其死亡年龄。我们分析了来自西班牙南部的 80 名自由放养的个体，建立了年龄计算的参考数据库。这些人的年龄是通过根据已知死亡年份推断的下颌牙齿来确定的，并相对于他们评估上颌牙齿。因此，我们提供了三种无损方法：萌出顺序和牙齿更换的描述、咬合磨损阶段的参考代码以及考虑上下牙列牙尖高度的回归分析。这些方法提供了估计动物死亡年龄并将它们分类到特定年龄组的可能性。为了评估该方法的实用性，我们将其应用于旧石器时代中期的阿布里克罗马考古遗址。所有提出的方法都使我们能够估算马鹿个体的死亡年龄。只要可行，通过结合这些不同的方法可以获得最准确的结果。这项研究有助于纳入传统上在考古遗址分析中被省略的上牙列化石，从而可以更好地调整用于计算骨骼元素数量和个体数量的定量方法。反过来，这可以更准确地构建解剖学和死亡率概况。