Annals of medicine
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While trying to return the identity to human remains, the forensic anthropologist has to estimate four basic parameters: sex, age at death, ancestry, and stature. These are the so-called big four parameters of identification which altogether with the identity factors can allow a positive identification, which enables the return of the remains to the families. This presentation focusses the problematic of age estimation of older individuals which is a very relevant question since a lot of "John Doe's" are old individuals who lived alone and/or who got lost. ⋯ The ones to be analysed are also dictated by the state of preservation and completeness of the skeletal remains. Some of these skeletal age indicators will be commented and the contribution of genetics to this issue will also be approached. The relevance of this subject will be illustrated through the presentation of some practical forensic cases.