Milner G R, Humpf D A, Harpending H C
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 1989 Sep;80(1):49-58. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.1330800107.
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.
