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Teenage builders
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Evergreen Dazed
1881 posts

Edited Feb 28, 2017, 10:00
Re: Teenage builders
Feb 28, 2017, 09:58
CianMcLiam wrote:
Evergreen Dazed wrote:
CianMcLiam wrote:
Evergreen Dazed wrote:
CianMcLiam wrote:
carol27 wrote:
At the risk of being gauche & crass..no change there then, given the assumed life span of our ancestors, this, the Paleolithic, Neolithic was largely the age of youth( as we perceive it to day?) I realise of course that "time" was possibly not a concept as we have to experience it today. Don't you find that fascinating? These astonishing "cultures" basically may have been "teenage" driven & orientated.
Of course in the slave labour driven dynasties, for eg the Romans, the Victorians etc life expectancy wasn't so great for the underprivileged. So, what's my point? No idea, but I get these funny notions. And of course, " teenagers" are a luxury item:)


I believe the confusing life expectancy averages for ancient times is heavily influenced by the very high infant mortality rate. People would have routinely lived into old age, once they made it through the tough early childhood years.


Depends what you mean by old age. Certainly not the no. of years we'd expect today in Western europe.


Some people would have lived into their seventies, not as many as in Western Europe today but then not many people in the world have so many that live into very old age. There would have been people living into the sixties and seventies, probably more than did in medieval Europe when population densities reached historically unprecedented levels.


Could you let me know yr sources for this, I wouldn't mind taking a look.


Pensioners are just a mathematical necessity. If the median life expectancy in the Neolithic was 30-35 years then people had equally likely probabilities of having shorter or longer lives than this. If you then factor in a high infant/child mortality rate then you need a lot of people living into their sixties and seventies to keep the median at 30-35. If most people died in their early thirties or forties then the median lifespan would be around 14-16.


I understand the point you are trying to make.

You said people routinely lived into old age, then said 'their sixties and seventies', and probably more than did in medieval europe. Surprisingly bold statements and very interesting indeed, so i'd like to know the source for that information. Do you have a particular source or is it your supposition based upon what you've called a mathematical necessity?
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