Archaeological Demography

Abstract

Archaeological demography investigates the structure and dynamics of past human populations using evidence from traces of human activities and remnants of material culture in the archaeological record. Research in this field is interdisciplinary, incorporating findings from anthropology, paleogenetics, and human ecology but with a remit that extends beyond the primarily biological focus of paleodemography. Important questions addressed by archaeological demography include the establishment of methods for inferring past population structure, the timing of the emergence of modern human demographic systems, the relative importance of attritional and catastrophic patterns of mortality, and the search for adaptive explanations for demographic transitions, colonization events, and population extinctions. Archaeological evidence, including the extent of settlements and site catchment areas as well as measures of the exploitation, consumption, and discard of materials and artifacts, have traditionally been used as proxies for estimating past population size and density. In recent years this evidence has been supplemented by increasingly large data sets compiled from radiocarbon dating programs. These data sets have been used to investigate demographic waves of advance during continental-scale periods of colonization and cultural change and to detect episodes of population decline, extinction, and hiatuses in settlement history. By considering studies of human genetic diversity that indicate temporary but drastic reductions in effective population size, I hypothesize that catastrophic mortality may have had an important role in long-term population processes and may have limited long-term rates of growth, particularly in prehistoric populations. This open access article is available in Human Biology: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol81/iss2/9 Archaeological DemographyAndrew Chamberlain 1 Abstract Archaeological demography investigates the structure and dynamics of past human populations using evidence from traces of human activities and remnants of material culture in the archaeological record. Research in this fi eld is interdisciplinary, incorporating fi ndings from anthropology, paleogenetics, and human ecology but with a remit that extends beyond the primarily biological focus of paleodemography. Important questions addressed by archaeological demography include the establishment of methods for inferring past population structure, the timing of the emergence of modern human demographic systems, the relative importance of attritional and catastrophic patterns of mortality, and the search for adaptive explanations for demographic transitions, colonization events, and population extinctions. Archaeological evidence, including the extent of settlements and site catchment areas as well as measures of the exploitation, consumption, and discard of materials and artifacts, have traditionally been used as proxies for estimating past population size and density. In recent years this evidence has been suppleme...

Infant feeding practice in medieval Japan: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human skeletons from Yuigahama‐minami

“…Among 260 skeletons with a preserved pelvis, 17.3% of individuals were aged between 0 and 4 years, and the sex ratio was 106 males to 100 females (Nagaoka et al, 2006). They estimated demographic parameters based on juvenility index, in which the numbers of deaths of older subadults are expressed as a ratio of their deaths to the number of adult deaths in the population (Bocquet-Appel and Masset, 1996; Chamberlain, 2009). This was designed to avoid the biasing effects caused by differential mortuary practices and post depositional preservation potential of younger subadult skeletons (Lewis, 2007).…”

Modeling Effects of Local Extinctions on Culture Change and Diversity in the Paleolithic

“…Archaeological and historical evidence indicate that more recent populations also experienced periods of profound demographic attrition that might well have involved stochastic extinction of local groups (e.g., [39], [60]). Populations expanding rapidly into previously un-colonized and unfamiliar landscapes, groups on small isolated islands, and people living in very harsh or rapidly fluctuating environments might all be at risk of losing many small local groups.…”

Current Trends in Roman Demography and Empirical Approaches to the Dynamics of the Limes Populations

“…This research field is mainly that of archaeologists and geographers who apply specific qualitative models, developed in the fields of ecology, resource availability (carrying capacity) and economics, to quantitative data in order to track the evolution of populations, often observed over very long periods (especially in prehistory). Andrew Chamberlain (2006Chamberlain ( , 2009 proposes an interesting overview on the possibilities and the limits of archaeological demography. However, even when it can be established that population size is proportional to the quantity of material evidence uncovered, it is not easy to convert this evidence of resource usage into actual population numbers.…”