Forensic anthropology
Scientists can discover the stages of growth and development that the bones were in when a person died to guess their age. Bones such as the femur can be measured in order to determine what stage of life a person was in. A child’s bones would typically be shorter than an adult’s bones, and a child's bones would not have the epiphyses, the growing part of a bone, attached completely. Another way to determine age is to look for cartilage, a tissue that is replaced by hard bone as a person gets older. Younger children will have more cartilage in their bones while adults will have more hard bone. Using these methods can help guess the age of a person when they died.