Toward a uniformitarian theory of human paleodemography

The purposes of this study are to conduct paleodemographic and paleopathological analyses of medieval human skeletons from Japan and to clarify their life and death situations. The materials used here were individuals from the Yuigahama-chusei-shudan-bochi site (Seika-ichiba location) (i.e. YCSB-SI), located along the Yuigahama seashore of the southern end of Kamakura City. Several new findings regarding the life and death situations of YCSB-SI were obtained: (1) YCSB-SI exhibited a younger age-at-death distribution than other skeletal series; (2) the frequency of caries lesions in YCSB-SI was 5%, females exhibited more caries lesions than males and this group exhibited the lowest caries prevalence rate among Japanese populations; (3) the frequencies of enamel hypoplasia were 67% in the upper central incisors and 73% in the lower canines, which were almost equal to those of non-medieval series; and (4) the presence of weapon-related traumas on the cranium and limb bones from YCSB-SI was demonstrated. It is inferred from the present and previously reported data that population concentration in Kamakura impacted negatively on the lives of the inhabitants, possibly by malnutrition, increase of infectious diseases, and occasionally death by violence, and that all the results can be consistently explained by assuming urbanization and severe living conditions in medieval Kamakura.

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“…Demographic estimates of the sample were conducted under uniformitarian assumption (Weiss, 1973;Howell, 1976;Hoppa, 2002;Chamberlain, 2006).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic and pathological characteristics of the medieval Japanese: new evidence from human skeletons from Kamakura, Japan

Nagaoka

Sawada

Hirata

2013

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“…Demographic estimates of samples always require the uniformitarian assumption that the biological processes related to aging and sexual dimorphism were the same in the past as in the present (Weiss, 1973;Howell, 1976;Hoppa, 2002;Chamberlain, 2006).…”

Section: Demographic Assumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of skeletal adult age distribution of Okhotsk people in northern Japan

Nagaoka

Ishida

Shimoda

et al. 2012

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The demographic structure of prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies has contributed to our understanding of the life history patterns of past human populations. The purposes of this study are to examine the human skeletal remains associated with the Okhotsk culture, to estimate age-at-death distribution using the Buckberry-Chamberlain system of auricular surface aging and the Bayesian approach, and to discuss whether paleodemographic estimates can yield an appropriate mortality profile of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in Japan. The application of the Bayesian theorem to the age-at-death estimation was based on the modern Japanese and Spitalfields known-age collections, assuming uniform, reference, and model prior probabilities. The age distributions of the Okhotsk had low proportions of young adults and high proportions of elderly adults. The results indicated that 24.4-51.3% of individuals were above the age of 55 years. The newly employed technique of the Bayesian estimation yielded the age distributions with significant numbers of elderly individuals, which are contrary to usual paleodemographic estimates. The results of this study suggest direct and plausible evidence of demographic traits in the Okhotsk people and allow us to reveal the mortality schedules of the prehistoric hunter-gatherers that otherwise could not be reconstructed from historical or ethnological records.

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“…One of the most important "findings" of fairly recent research is that there is no reason to believe that the native populations of North America violated "uniformitarian" assumptions (Howell, 1976) in that their demography was radically different from that of other populations at a similar level of technological development in other parts of the world. In Table 1 Weiss (1981) compared life expectancy estimates for native North American Indian populations before the European invasion with those for average hunter-gatherers and primitive agriculturalists elsewhere.…”

Section: Native American Demography Before Contactmentioning

confidence: 97%

The demographic history of the native peoples of North America: A selective bibliography

Johansson

1982

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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Before contact with Europeans had begun, the native peoples of North America were varied in their demographic characteristics; nevertheless, available evidence indicates that, on an average, their life-expectancy-at-birth values fell into the same low ranges typical for other groups at similar levels of technological development. While the total population at contact is still unknown, political and cultural biases have generally forced estimates into artificially high or low ranges. There is general agreement that the shock of contact with invading Europeans led to substantial reductions among most aboriginal populations, but in North America some groups were much less disrupted than others. Many original populations disappeared altogether, but whether or not their demise was primarily a function of short-run, rapid disruption caused by disease andlor warfare, or a slower process spread out over several generations involving assimilation in its various forms, remains uncertain. With the establishment of the reservation system in the 19th century a basis was provided far continued demographic and cultural survival. By the early 20th century most reservation populations were beginning a demographic transition based on declining death rates and high fertility. For several generations rapid growth has continued. As urbanization increases recent fertility declines are expected to accelerate even further. Meanwhile the rapid urbanization of the surviving native peoples poses a real threat to their cultural distinctiveness. Finally, all phases of native American demographic history are characterized by defective and inadequate data which makes straightforward description or analysis perilous.The demographic encounter between the New World and Old is one of the most dramatic chapters in world population history. Evolving for centuries in relative isolation from the Asians, Africans, and Europeans who comprised the majority of the world's population, the natives of the Americas were abruptly brought into contact with the Old World from the fifteenth century onwards. Thereafter, successive New World populations found their existence under sustained assault. In spite of the extreme demographic stress that contact generated, the survivors adapted and ultimately rallied, demonstrating, on a continental scale, the resiliency of the human species.While the demography of the New World native populations is intrinsically interesting, there is as yet no adequate synthesis of it. Indeed, such a synthesis is probably premature. The quantity and quality of the data available rarely inspires confidence in its users. Even recent data must be handled cautiously. The techniques of estimation that must be used in conjunction with the available data still produce figures with wide margins of error. In this context, controversy flourishes and little can be said with 0096 848W8212501 0133$05 50 1982 Alan R Liss, Inc

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Toward a uniformitarian theory of human paleodemography

Cited by 99 publications

References 6 publications

Demographic and pathological characteristics of the medieval Japanese: new evidence from human skeletons from Kamakura, Japan

Demographic and pathological characteristics of the medieval Japanese: new evidence from human skeletons from Kamakura, Japan

Estimation of skeletal adult age distribution of Okhotsk people in northern Japan

The demographic history of the native peoples of North America: A selective bibliography

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