Abstract
The Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD) is the largest available repository of contemporary (2010–2019) subadult reference data from around the world. It is composed of data collected from individuals aged between birth and 22 years. Data were collected from skeletal remains (n = 43, Colombia) and medical images (n = 4848) generated at medical examiner’s offices in the United States (full-body Computed Tomography (CT) scans), hospitals in France, The Netherlands, Taiwan (region-specific CT scans), and South Africa (full-body Lodox Statscans), a private clinic in Angola (region-specific conventional radiographs), and a dental practice in Brazil (panoramic radiographs). Available derivatives include individual demographics (age, sex) with standardized skeletal and/or dental growth and development indicators for all individuals from all samples, and segmented long bone and innominate surfaces from the CT scan samples. Standardized protocols for data collection are provided for download and derivatives are freely accessible for researchers and students.
Highlights
The Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD) is the largest available repository of contemporary (2010–2019) subadult reference data from around the world
1795 medical images are available for future research and some of those are housed in the SVAD and some in New Mexico Decedent Image Database (NMDID)
These findings should be verified on the other SVAD samples, they suggest there is no bias in skeletal and dental indicators that is related to the type of collaborating institution, the context of origin of the individuals, or the type of medical image (CT scan or radiograph), and that these indicators could be compared across samples for anthropological research [28]
Summary
With a few exceptions [1,2], contemporary skeletal reference collections often present with few or no subadult specimens. The handful of osteological collections that do have subadult specimens present numerous issues that are not unexpected, but are problematic when developing or validating subadult methods, especially for use in forensic contexts These include one or several of the following limitations: relatively small samples [3,4], uneven age distributions [1], anatomically incomplete or taphonomically damaged skeletons, historic samples that do not accurately reflect contemporary growth and development or health [5,6], samples truncated to one type of indicator [7], and/or incomplete or inaccurate information on demographics, population affinity, or socio-economic status [1,6,8,9]. The Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD) is a new, open-source resource that includes myriad data from contemporary subadults, incorporates a wide range of human variation, includes all developmental ages with substantial sample sizes through-. The composition of the database, its derivatives, and how to access the material is described below
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