Paleodemography

Paleodemography is the study of ancient human mortality, fertility, and migration.

More specifically, paleodemography looks at the changes in pre-modern populations in order to determine something about the influences on the lifespan and health of earlier peoples.

Because case studies that are common today are unavailable, data, both statistically relevant and anecdotal, must be inferred from the pursuits of bioarchaeology in most cases. Generally speaking, it is the information coaxed from skeletal remains that provides the most insight into past populations.

For instance, Skeletal analysis can also yield information such as an estimation of age at time of death. There are numerous methods that can be used, and it is best to field questions of further interest to an osteologist or bioarchaeologist. In addition to age estimation and sex estimation, someone versed in basic osteology can ascertain a minimum number of individuals (or MNI) in cluttered contexts -- such as in mass graves or an ossuary. This is important, as it is not always obvious how many bodies compose the bones sitting in a heap as they are excavated.

Occasionally, disease history for things like leprosy can also be determined from bone restructuring and deterioration. While that tends to fall more under paleopathology, it is important to keep such things in mind in how they affect mortality rates.

Current issues

One recurring problem in paleodemography is that researchers need to publish data in uniform (or at least translatable) formats. In some cases, reliance on others' research is the only way to gather enough data to make educated inferences about the population as a whole.

Recent years have not led to significant advances in the realm of age estimation of skeletal remains. Without ways of more accurately determining age of deceased individuals, a wealth of information is locked away.

Old World researchers have traditionally relied on written texts and grave markers for information, forgoing first-hand data collection. While that can be useful, it should not be used to the exclusion of actual analysis of remains.

Further reading

C.S. Larsen, 1997. "Bioarchaeology: interpreting behavior from the human skeleton". Cambridge University Press.

M. Katzenberg and S. Saunders, eds., 2000. "Biological anthropology of the human skeleton". Wiley.