Most of the fundamental methods for analyzing archaeological dog remains need to be better developed. This is particularly true for methods designed to estimate age at death. Most ageing methods are either destructive and specialized or useful only for identifying juveniles. Cranial suture closure and obliteration patterning are commonly examined to estimate the general age at death of human remains but have seen little use in zooarchaeology. This study develops a simple and non-destructive ageing method based on a suture and synchondrosis obliteration using a sample of over 700 modern dog crania. Scoring the extent of obliteration of individual sutures provides a valuable means of differentiating adult and juvenile crania. Combining the scores for multiple sutures permits the assignment of dog crania to an age group, albeit with less certainty among middle-aged and older adults. Breed, crania shape, sex, and body size all likely create variation in suture obliteration patterns and their relationships to dog age. The method should be used conservatively and in combination with other ageing methods when possible.

中文翻译：

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颅骨缝合消除模式作为狗颅骨老化的方法


大多数分析考古狗遗骸的基本方法都需要得到更好的发展。对于旨在估计死亡年龄的方法尤其如此。大多数老化方法要么是破坏性的、专门的，要么仅用于识别青少年。颅缝闭合和消失模式通常用于估计人类遗骸死亡时的一般年龄，但在动物考古学中几乎没有用处。这项研究使用 700 多个现代狗颅骨的样本，开发了一种基于缝合和软骨联合消除的简单且非破坏性的老化方法。对单个缝合线的消失程度进行评分提供了区分成人和青少年颅骨的宝贵方法。结合多次缝合的分数可以将狗的颅骨分配到一个年龄组，尽管在中年和老年人中不太确定。品种、颅骨形状、性别和体型都可能造成缝线消失模式的变化及其与狗年龄的关系。该方法应保守使用，并尽可能与其他老化方法结合使用。