4 ms·
> Hunter gatherers were lucky to live past 30 Most of the statistics about our ancestors having a 35ish life expectancy are skewed by high infant mortality, an
by lukifer 12y ago
> Hunter gatherers were lucky to live past 30
Most of the statistics about our ancestors having a 35ish life expectancy are skewed by high infant mortality, and high risk of death due to injury or other external ailments (a broken leg on the savannah can easily be a death sentence). A hunter-gatherer who surived those things would tend to live into their sixties or beyond.
- Mikeb85 12y agoAsk any archaeologist. Most adult hunter gatherers did not make it to 40. We're not talking averages, we're talking maximum life expectancy...
- MisterBastahrd 12y agoSure. They also had neither vaccinations nor antibiotics, had no understanding of bacteria, etc. Take any modern teenager and stick him back in the stone age and I doubt he makes it to 40 even WITH modern knowledge.
- PeterisP 12y agoThe modal age of death for hunter gatherers that survived to adulthood ranges from 65 to 72 among the reasearched cultures. Sure, a large proportion of them die at early childhood - "life expectancy" measures takes that into account by definition, as it measures the total average life expectancy; and if you get a 100 kids who live to 70 and 100 kids who die as infants, then the average life expectancy is 35.
- Mikeb85 12y agoMaybe you could present a paper? Because amongst most hunter gatherers researched the modal age is much lower...
- PeterisP 12y agoM.Gurven & H.Kaplan Longevity Among Hunter-Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination has a conclusion of "The average modal age of adult death for hunter-gatherers is 72 with a range of 68–78 years." It's not about the ancient societies but is relevant because for this discussion the point is not history, but the effects of a hunter-gatherer diet. http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2...