Pattern matching of age-at-death distributions in paleodemographic analysis.
Model age-at-death distributions are generated from fertility and mortality rates derived from two present-day, traditional human societies with widely differing cultural systems: the !Kung hunters-and-gatherers and Yanomamo horticulturalists. Visual examination of these models demonstrates that fertility has more of an effect than mortality on the overall configuration of the age-at-death distributions of stable populations. Comparisons with a late prehistoric Oneota skeletal sample from the American Midwest illustrate how reference age-at-death schedules can be used 1) to identify whether a given skeletal sample approximates an age-at-death distribution expected of an extant human population and 2) to provide a basis for developing further testable hypotheses about the demographic and cultural characteristics of past populations.
Milner
G R
GR
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802.
Humpf
D A
DA
Harpending
H C
HC
D000350:Africa, Central; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth; D000367:Age Factors; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D015146:Midwestern United States; D008954:Models, Biological; D010163:Paleontology