and for the Fly By Wire guys...
what has fly by wire got to do with the price of fish
Of course radar identification would work.
If the question is how to make a descent without either radar of an 'accurate' navaid (VOR or DME/TACAN) vs NDB, then the basic question is how to be certain of position to commence descent to MSA and indeed how you know where you are in the first place and what the MSA is. Well wx radar can help and the best of all is visual acquisition. Without any of that, then you could try plotting cross-cuts, checking flight plan timings but at the end of the day, if you're not happy to descend to your best estimate of MSA and from there make a visual approach, then go somewhere else!