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Sadly, when most people think of Cavemen, like the ones pictured above, they too think that nobody lived past the age of 30 in ancient paleolithic times. Fortunately for our primal kin, this was not the case. Before doing research, I believed the main causes of Hunter-gatherer deaths were disease, violence, and starvation. Since I am on a mission to find the answer to my 2 questions (Were people better off as Hunter-Gatherers and is it too late to go back to that lifestyle if we wanted?) I need to find the truth about H&G mortality, morbidity, reproduction, and overall health in order to be completely thorough.
According to the website Paleoleap.com, 30-40% of hunter-gatherer children died before they reached age 15, but if someone survived that long, they could expect to live into their late 60's or even their early 70's. The reason why many people believe Hunter and gatherers didn't live past 30 years of age is because of how we find the average life expectancy. As the image below exemplifies, the high infant and juvenile death rates are calculated into the average age of death, even though relatively few people actually die at that age.
So now that we know people in a H&G lived a decently long life, we should look at reproduction rates. Paleoleap.com once again explains it perfectly well:
According to the website Paleoleap.com, 30-40% of hunter-gatherer children died before they reached age 15, but if someone survived that long, they could expect to live into their late 60's or even their early 70's. The reason why many people believe Hunter and gatherers didn't live past 30 years of age is because of how we find the average life expectancy. As the image below exemplifies, the high infant and juvenile death rates are calculated into the average age of death, even though relatively few people actually die at that age.
So now that we know people in a H&G lived a decently long life, we should look at reproduction rates. Paleoleap.com once again explains it perfectly well:
Assuming that a Paleolithic woman wanted to maximize her baby’s chance for survival, she probably would have breastfed it for at least 2 years. This means that children would have been spaced at least 3 years apart: 2 years of breastfeeding plus 9 months of pregnancy. Studies on modern hunter-gatherers show women reaching menarche at an average age of 16, and giving birth to their first child around 19 ...
On a side note, while doing research I learned that the reason women go through menopause is because the older a woman is when she gives birth, the greater chance she has of dying. In addition, not having any dependent children later in life is beneficial to her family as well as the community. If any of you remember your grandparents taking care of you as a young child while your parents are working, you should have a great understanding of this concept. Menopause allowed older women to care for their grandchildren (and other children in the community) while their mothers were out working, or in those times, gathering and surviving (Lieberman).
Anyways, getting back on subject, lets talk about the lovely subject of death. According to a MIT Lecture Document, communicable infectious disease were not a major cause of death, as population densities among H&G groups were too small for diseases such as measles, polio, smallpox, and respiratory infections to spread. Robert Wyman, a Yale Professor, also agrees communicable diseases were not a main cause of death. Also, Wyman believes violence did play a major role in mortality of the time. (You can check out his video here. View ~11 min- 23 minutes of the lecture).
There are many arguments about whether or not starvation was a major cause of death in H&G societies. One argument against this idea is explained in Wyman's lecture, as he explains that since our ancestors had such a wide range of food, no single microbe or parasite existed that could wipe out all their sustenance options. However, many anthropologists argue that during climatic changes, sources of meat may not be present in certain areas, leaving populations at risk of having limited options to eat.
One very important bit of information I learnt came from both the MIT document and from Daniel Lieberman. While there was a high infant mortality rate as a result of infections, bad immunity, poor infant nutrition and other reasons that could all have easily been prevented with modern medicine, there is almost no evidence hunter-gatherers suffering from the same diseases that plague us today. Obesity (which causes diabetes and heart disease), cancer, and osteoporosis are the biggest health concerns in the western world. Knowing how prevalent these diseases are in our lives today, it seems amazing that our Paleolithic ancestors did not suffer from theses. Using logic, it is safe to determine that since there is no genetic change has occurred, these changes are a result of a cultural change. Personally, I would put my money on agriculture, but we will see.
So to summarize this blog post, high infant mortality rates cause H&G average age of death to be in the 30s, however, people who live past 15 years of age are likely to live well into their 60's. Even though women start giving birth at a relatively young age and continue to reproduce every 3 years until later in life, violence and non-communicable infectious disease (such as parasites) limit population growth.
Anyways, getting back on subject, lets talk about the lovely subject of death. According to a MIT Lecture Document, communicable infectious disease were not a major cause of death, as population densities among H&G groups were too small for diseases such as measles, polio, smallpox, and respiratory infections to spread. Robert Wyman, a Yale Professor, also agrees communicable diseases were not a main cause of death. Also, Wyman believes violence did play a major role in mortality of the time. (You can check out his video here. View ~11 min- 23 minutes of the lecture).
There are many arguments about whether or not starvation was a major cause of death in H&G societies. One argument against this idea is explained in Wyman's lecture, as he explains that since our ancestors had such a wide range of food, no single microbe or parasite existed that could wipe out all their sustenance options. However, many anthropologists argue that during climatic changes, sources of meat may not be present in certain areas, leaving populations at risk of having limited options to eat.
One very important bit of information I learnt came from both the MIT document and from Daniel Lieberman. While there was a high infant mortality rate as a result of infections, bad immunity, poor infant nutrition and other reasons that could all have easily been prevented with modern medicine, there is almost no evidence hunter-gatherers suffering from the same diseases that plague us today. Obesity (which causes diabetes and heart disease), cancer, and osteoporosis are the biggest health concerns in the western world. Knowing how prevalent these diseases are in our lives today, it seems amazing that our Paleolithic ancestors did not suffer from theses. Using logic, it is safe to determine that since there is no genetic change has occurred, these changes are a result of a cultural change. Personally, I would put my money on agriculture, but we will see.
So to summarize this blog post, high infant mortality rates cause H&G average age of death to be in the 30s, however, people who live past 15 years of age are likely to live well into their 60's. Even though women start giving birth at a relatively young age and continue to reproduce every 3 years until later in life, violence and non-communicable infectious disease (such as parasites) limit population growth.
Before I move on to how everything changed after the switch to agriculture, I want to make a brief Pros and Cons list of the Hunting and Gathering lifestyle:
PROS
| CONS
|
Figure #3: http://www.appetiteforhealth.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/caveman+cartoon.jpg
Figure #4: http://paleoleap.com/why-cavemen-didnt-die-young/
Figure #4: http://paleoleap.com/why-cavemen-didnt-die-young/
"Why Cavemen Didn't Actually Die Young | Paleo Leap." Paleo Leap Paleo Diet Recipes Tips. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
http://web.mit.edu/7.01x/7.013/documents/7.013Lect30.pdf
Wyman, Robert. "MCDB 150 - Lecture 4 - When Humans Were Scarce."Open Yale Courses. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
LIEBERMAN, D. 2013. The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. Pantheon Books, New York.Chapter 5, 8, 11.
http://web.mit.edu/7.01x/7.013/documents/7.013Lect30.pdf
Wyman, Robert. "MCDB 150 - Lecture 4 - When Humans Were Scarce."Open Yale Courses. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
LIEBERMAN, D. 2013. The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. Pantheon Books, New York.Chapter 5, 8, 11.