Mortality Profiles as Indicators of Slowed Reproductive Rates: Evidence from Ancient Egypt

Sterling, Sarah L.

doi:10.1006/jaar.1999.0344

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Consistency is measured through the goodness of fit between empirical expectations and data. To date the waste hypothesis has been tested in various geographic regions -the Ohio River valley (Dunnell and Greenlee, 1999), the lower Mississippi River valley (Hamilton, 1999), Egypt (Sterling, 1999), Ireland (Aranyosi, 1999), and Peru (Kornbacher, 1999) -and the results (some more preliminary than others) have been consistent with the expectations. In-depth application of the waste hypothesis to mound building and other kinds of cultural elaboration at Cahokia is beyond the scope of this article, but we note that the environmental conditions on which the model rests -unpredictability -appear to be met.…”

Section: Explaining the Rise Of Cahokiasupporting

confidence: 55%

History and Explanation in Archaeology

O’Brien

Lyman

2004

Anthropological Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pauketat argued (2001: 73-98) that a new paradigm -historical processualism (HP) as operationalized by practice theory -is preferable to processual, behavioral, and evolutionary archaeologies as a source of explanation for culture change. To make his case, Pauketat sets up several contrasts between HP and the other three approaches. He claims that HP is superior because it neither essentializes behavior nor calls on potentially false universal laws to create explanations. He argues that HP holds that human practices -individual, particularistic human behaviors -generate new practices as they are continuously re-enacted and renegotiated, and thus practice is the proximate cause of cultural change. Evolutionary archaeology incorporates such particularistic and proximate causes but goes far beyond HP by providing an explanatory theory that specifies ultimate causes of culture change. It employs Darwin's scientific theory of historical change, rewritten in testable, archaeological terms. In contrast, HP provides no testable implications of historical change.Darwinism has long played a role in Americanist archaeology, although it has largely been a metaphorical role, such as when Kidder (1917) andFord (1936) spoke of 'genetic' connections between similar artifact styles. Within the last quarter-century, however, there have been serious efforts to adapt evolutionary theory to archaeology. The primary goal of what has become known as evolutionary archaeology (EA hereafter) is twofold: to build sets of related cultural lineages and to construct explanations for those sets of lineages having the shape they do. Both steps employ concepts -transmission, natural selection, and heritability -that are embedded within evolutionary theory. Darwin (1859), however, did not have the archaeological record in mind when he developed his theory. As a result, archaeologists have spent considerable time developing both the bridging theory and the methods needed to apply Darwinism to the material record (e.g.

show abstract

Section: Explaining the Rise Of Cahokiasupporting

confidence: 55%

History and Explanation in Archaeology

O’Brien

Lyman

2004

Anthropological Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, before the 4.2 ky event Neolithic city-states were relatively loosely organized and their agriculture relied rather on water stored in soil during winter rainy season or on summer rainfall than on irrigation canals that were not frequently built yet and primitive [35] Another achievement of civilization was the invention of writing which, like the domestication of cereals and animals, also proceeded independently in Egypt, the Middle East, India and China. Reading these records provides information about life and events in the Neolith [40] [41].…”

Section: The Greenlandian Stage (11799 -8300 Years Ago)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gutian Invasion in the Middle East as a Possible Anthropogenic Trigger Factor in the Development of the 4.2 ky Event

Szczęsny¹

2019

OJE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is commonly accepted that the current global warming is caused by humans, especially by anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide. It is justifiably considered to be one of the biggest threats for life on the planet and human civilization. However, since millennia humans have been changing the climate locally and globally. Especially after the development of agriculture and animal husbandry people have been progressively increasing the albedo of the planet. The cooling of the climate that took place since the Neolithic Revolution and lasted until the onset of the Industrial Revolution corresponds better with the growth of human population than with any other factor. The current global warming threatens with drought, hunger, migrations and inundation of coastal areas. However, throughout the human history, it was the cooling that was related to drought and hunger. The cooling and drought that occurred about 4.2 thousand years ago (the 4.2 ky event) were the most severe. It resulted in the collapse of all Neolithic civilizations. Its reason is still not explained. This paper presents a hypothesis how people could unwillingly cause change in monsoons' strength and direction as well as global climate catastrophe that occurred 4.2 thousand years ago.

show abstract

“…This would be consistent with l65 rate of approximately 20% observed for preindustrial populations in general during more recent periods (Gurven and Kaplan, 2007). Conversely, Sterling (1999) demonstrates statistically significant differences in mortality profiles between skeletal samples from Predynastic and early Dynastic cemeteries from Ancient Egypt (pre and post c. 3000BC respectively). In this case whilst the former exhibit a profile that is skewed towards the younger age categories, the latter contain greater proportions of Middle and Older aged adults (usually categorised as individuals aged 35-50 and 50+).…”

Section: 'Dead Populations' -Evidence From Archaeological Burialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Age Old Problem? Estimating the Impact of Dementia on Past Human Populations

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Objectives: To model the impact of dementia on past societies. Methods: We consider multople lines of evidence indicating elderly individuals to have been more common throughout the past than is frequently accepted. We then apply known dementia incidence/ prevalence rates to plausible assumptions of past population structures to suggest prevalence in the past. Results: Dementia prevalence in pre-modern societies is likely to have been around 5% of the rate seen in modern, developed countries, but with a total past incidence running into billions. Discussion: Dementia is often seen as a 'modern' challenge which humans have not had to contend with before. We argue that this condition has had considerably greater effects than previously envisaged and is a challenge that humans have already withstood successfully, on one hand at a lower incidence but on the other without the considerable clinical, technological and social advances that have been made in recent times.http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jah Journal of Aging and Health F o r P e e r R e v i e w An age old problem? Estimating the impact of dementia on past human populations IntroductionThe cumulative effects of advances in medicine, sanitation and diets seen in the developed world over the last two centuries are a well-rehearsed story. First infectious diseases that previously resulted in frequent and sustained high mortality rates were effectively eradicated, followed more recently by lifestyle changes which reduced the risks of the cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases that came in their wake. As a result affluent regions are now characterised by populations with growing susceptibility to chronic conditions associated with ageing. As a category of disease that is incurable and which commonly increases in incidence with advancing age dementia is just such a condition.

show abstract

Mortality Profiles as Indicators of Slowed Reproductive Rates: Evidence from Ancient Egypt

Cited by 20 publications

References 42 publications

History and Explanation in Archaeology

History and Explanation in Archaeology

The Gutian Invasion in the Middle East as a Possible Anthropogenic Trigger Factor in the Development of the 4.2 ky Event

An Age Old Problem? Estimating the Impact of Dementia on Past Human Populations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About