Identification of the Archaeological ‘Invisible Elderly’: An Approach Illustrated with an Anglo‐Saxon Example

The aim of this paper is to present a method to facilitate age‐at‐death estimation of older individuals (generally those aged 50+ years) in a representative cemetery sample. The purpose of disaggregating catch‐all categories, such as 50+ years, is to enable the exploration of the elderly (those in their 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s) in the context of mortuary archaeology, bioarchaeology and/or palaeopathology. The methodological steps include the following: (1) assessment of occlusal tooth wear in an Anglo‐Saxon cemetery sample from Worthy Park, UK; (2) seriation of the sample, from youngest to oldest, based on the degree of tooth wear; (3) selection of an ethnographically derived model (known mortality profile) by which seriated individuals in the Worthy Park sample could be reallocated to more realistic or appropriate age classes; (4) reallocation of individuals in the seriated Worthy Park sample to the model age classes. A Hadza, Tanzania, hunter‐gatherer profile was chosen to model the Worthy Park sample, although others are available. By using this model, some 66% of the entire adult sample, originally allocated to the single final age category of 45+ years, was distributed across four new age categories from the mid‐40s to mid‐70s. Relatively straightforward, this approach provides a way to identify those individuals, 50+ years old, not normally sensitive to traditional age‐at‐death estimation methodologies currently available. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applying dynamics and comparing life tables for Pleistocene Equidae in anthropic (Bau de l'Aubesier,Combe-Grenal) and carnivore (Fouvent) contexts with modern feral horse populations (Akagera,Pryor Mountain)

In this study, we propose a method based on life tables currently used in population dynamics and ecology to compare the mortality curves of Equidae from anthropic and carnivore fossil assemblages with those from modern populations. The combined analysis of frequency (f_x) with various ecological parameters such as mortality rate (q_x), survival rate (l_x), fecundity rate (m_x), and killing factor (k_x), established for each age class, allows us to characterize the stability of fossil populations. These ecological parameters, developed in demography, correspond to many curves and constitute a complementary approach to interpret the two main mortality models, attritional and catastrophic, often evoked in zooarchaeology. The age structures of fossil horses from the anthropic sites of Bau de l'Aubesier (Vaucluse, France) and Combe-Grenal (Dordogne, France) and the hyena den of Fouvent (Haute-Saône, France) are compared to typical catastrophic modern populations of Equidae from the National Park of Akagera (Rwanda). We also used data collected by the Bureau of Land Management for present day feral horses from Pryor Mountain (Montana, USA) which constitutes a reliable referential of a stable living population. The characterization of age structures in those different contexts is discussed as well as the impact of Neanderthals and hyenas on fossil assemblages.     

Mortality date estimation using fetal pronghorn remains

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) fetal remains are sometimes recovered from archaeological contexts. Pronghorn have consistent reproductive schedules so their remains may provide information on seasonality of site occupation and number of mortality events. To investigate the reliability of fetal remains for seasonality and mortality event assessment, bone size and tooth eruption were measured in a sample of modern fetal pronghorn remains with known mortality dates. Results indicate a strong correlation between bone size and mortality date, but no significant correlation between tooth eruption level and mortality date. Fetal bone size was used to estimate a late April or early May mortality date at both the Oyster Ridge (48UT35) and Trappers Point (48SU1006) archaeological sites. The number of mortality events at Trappers Point was also investigated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age profiles of rhino fauna from the Middle Pleistocene Nanjing man site,south China—explained by the rhino specimens of living species

A total of 60 pieces of rhino materials have been identified from the Nanjing Man site. Morphologically, they belong to the species Dicerorhinus mercki. Among the materials, 40 pieces are broken bones, and 20 are isolated teeth or jaw bones (totally comprising 41 tooth units). Among the teeth, 74% are deciduous, most of them attached to jaws. Other isolated teeth are not greatly worn, meaning they were not naturally replaced, so they represent juvenile animals. Because the skeletons are completely isolated and most of them are broken, their death can not be attributed to a natural trap. Therefore, it is very probable that hominid activities were associated with rhinos at this site. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DETERMINANTS OF ADULT MORTALITY IN INDIA

This study attempts to evaluate the factors affecting adult mortality with special emphasis on the lifestyle factors using the 1998–1999 National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The sample size, N, in this analysis is 330,267. It includes those aged 15–59 of which 2.6 per cent died during adulthood. In the Poisson regression model, the independent variables used are age, sex, place of residence, lifestyle factors of other members of the family, standard of living, literacy composition, caste, religion, mass media exposure, household type, fuel for cooking and region of residence. This analysis has been adjusted for the clustering of deaths at the family level. The findings suggest that there is a strong positive relationship between lifestyle factors and premature mortality, even after controlling for other background characteristics of the deceased person. Further, age, standard of living index (SLI), literacy composition, religion, household type and region of residence are some important determinants of adult mortality in India.     

The Effects of Inter-generational Support on the Mortality of Older People in Rural China

As inter-generational support is the primary source of support for the Chinese elderly in rural areas, such support is likely to affect their physical and psychological health. This paper investigates the effects of four types of inter-generational support on the mortality risk of the elderly in Anhui Province. Results showed that mortality risk was influenced significantly only by receiving household support. Financial support and personal care had no effect. Results also indicated that household and emotional support were effective in reducing mortality when delivered at closer proximity, suggesting that quality of support may be enhanced by co-residence and ready access to children. Conclusions about the health benefits of tangible forms of support need to be tempered by an understanding that poor health predisposes inter-generational co-residence, and that the quality of household assistance and emotional support may be sensitive to the geographic distance between older parents and their adult children in rural China.     

BOOK REVIEWS

The author considers three methods of counting maternal deaths, and hence of calculating maternal mortality levels, in the nineteenth century. The first method counts maternal deaths classified in contemporary statistical publications. The second method examines nineteenth-century death registers for records of maternal deaths. The third method identifies maternal deaths through family reconstitution. The author finds that each method, in isolation, leads to underestimating maternal mortality levels because maternal deaths were often misregistered or misclassified under nonmaternal causes and were often not associated with live, registered births, as required for family reconstitution.     

Union Army veterans,all grown up

This article overviews the research opportunities made possible by a National Institute on Aging-funded program project, Early Indicators, Intergenerational Processes, and Aging. Data collection began almost three decades ago on 40,000 soldiers from the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War. The sample contains extensive demographic, economic, and medical data from childhood to death. In recent years, a large sample of African-American soldiers and an oversampling of soldiers from major U.S. cities have been added. Hundreds of historical maps containing public health data have been geocoded to place soldiers and their family members in a geospatial context. With newly granted funding, thousands of veterans will be linked to the demographic information available from the census and vital records of their children.     

Assessing the reliability of criteria used to identify mandibles and mandibular teeth in sheep, Ovis, and goats, Capra

Criteria developed to distinguish between the mandibles and mandibular teeth of sheep and goats are evaluated using modern specimens from the collections of the National Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum of Natural History. Certain teeth prove to be quite reliable in this regard (dP3, P3, P4). Other dental elements, however, are not reliable and should not be used in dental based identifications of these closely related species (dP4, M1, and mandibular bones). Overall, the identification of sheep dentition using these criteria is more reliable than it is for goats. However, the generally greater likelihood of incorrect identification of goat teeth and mandibles means that specimens identified as sheep are likely to contain high proportion of misidentified goats. Both the proportion of remains that can only be classified as ‘Ovis-Capra’ and the proportion of incorrectly identified teeth and mandibular bones varies with age, with identifications of younger and older animals less reliable than those of animals in the 1.5–6 year age range. Reliability of identifications increases when more criteria and more elements are used. Identifications based on whole mandibles with complete tooth rows are quite reliable. However, the proportion of specimens likely to be classified as ‘Ovis-Capra’ also increases in whole mandible identifications, especially in goats. Systematic differences in the proportions of indeterminate and incorrect identifications have a significant impact on species-level dentition-based harvest profiles. Recommendations are made for the use of dentition and long bone based harvest profiles in the study of sheep and goat exploitation strategies.     

SEAGULLS! ON MARTIN HÄGGLUND'S THIS LIFE: SECULAR FAITH AND SPIRITUAL FREEDOM

In this review essay, I examine Martin Hägglund's This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom, a book that argues on behalf of democratic socialism on the basis of an atheistic confrontation with the fact of our mortality. Hägglund's book includes readings of Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Karl Marx, and Martin Luther King Jr. and is best assessed as a literary and philosophical, rather than historical, study of the relation between mortality and social action. Simply put, Hägglund believes that, from the standpoint of an atheistic confrontation with our mortality, our time itself should be our ultimate measure of value. He furthermore believes that democratic socialism is the political and economic form that most naturally follows from this, allowing us to honor, defend, and enhance one another's mortal time and freedom to make choices—and that, by comparison with atheism, religion offers only the false coin of otherworldly salvation. Although sympathizing with Hägglund's existential and political orientations, I criticize his account of religion, which I find to be historically weak. But I also criticize his approach to the problem of valuation, or the issue of how we make choices in relation to our limited time. Whereas Hägglund believes that mortal creatures like ourselves must make choices in a spirit of commitment—the “secular faith” of his subtitle—I observe that, despite our mortality, we humans make our choices in a variety of psychological states, and that asking us to occupy only one such state—one of zealous resolve—actually undermines our “spiritual freedom,” another one of Hägglund's key terms.