Indirect Estimation of Precolumbian Life Spans at Teotihuacan, Mexico

Indirect estimation of age of human skeletons and the proper methods to attain it are basic to studies of past populations. One of the basic questions is how the life spans and pattern of adult mortality may differ from the contemporary situation. In the 10 years since the publication of the Rostock Manifesto, which famously set forth aims for paleodemography, recent investigation in improving age estimation, especially for older adults, has increased. New methods, such as transition analysis, try to meet the Rostock goal of better estimations of the probability of age given the stages of age indicator(s), of a target population of unknown ages at death. However, some of these seem to result in unrealistic old age estimates, which are generally just brushed aside as quirks of the methods used. However, if results are unreasonable at older ages, why should they be better at slightly younger adult ages? What might be reasonable life spans in preindustrial, non-Western populations? We investigate this problem with skeletal samples from two neighborhoods in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Investigating how differences in the Precolumbian urban environment might have influenced adult mortality and adult lifespan should prove a corrective to pure model-based estimations