Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:29:10.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleodemographic Correlates of Fertility: A Reply to Corruccini, Brandon, and Handler and to Holland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lyle W. Konigsberg ,
Jane E. Buikstra  and
Jill Bullington
Lyle W. Konigsberg
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605
Jane E. Buikstra
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
Jill Bullington
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Corruccini et al. apply our method of fertility estimation to a Barbados slave population, find that it yields contradictory and erratic estimates of the crude birth rate (CBR), examine its theoretical basis, and conclude that a pessimistic view of paleodemography in general is warranted. We argue that the sample utilized by Corruccini et al. is not well suited for methodological testing. Misestimates of fertility more likely were caused by the peculiarities of this particular sample than by flaws in our method or weaknesses in its theoretical foundation. Deterministic simulations also demonstrate that our method is theoretically well founded. We cannot, therefore, share Corruccini et al.'s pessimism concerning the feasibility of paleodemographic research.

Holland suggests we have erred by providing a "unicausal" model for increased fertility in prehistoric west-central Illinois. He argues that a fuller multicausal model including coevolutionary effects provides a more accurate depiction of the prehistoric events contributing to increased fertility. We appreciate Holland's call for more elaborate models of prehistoric behaviors and evolutionary interactions between humans and other organisms. Unfortunately, his model is untestable because it includes a feedback loop with no exogenous variables. Because of a lack of outside input, Holland's model is immobile and cannot be used in itself to explain changes in organismal biology or behavior.

Résumé

Résumé

Corruccini et al. aplicaron nuestros métodos de estimar lafertilidad de una populación de esclavos de la Barbada, encontraron que el método dió estimados irregulares y contradictorios de la natalidad cruda (CBR), examinaron su base teórica, y concluyeron que una vista pesimista de la paloedemografía en general es debido. Nosotros sostenemos que la muestra utilizada por Corruccini et al. no es adequada para hacerpruebas metodológicas. Las malestimados de la fertilidad tengan más probabilidad de ser causados por las peculiaridades de la muestra particular de Corruccini et al. que por unas desperfectos de nuestro método o unas debilidades de sufundamento teórico. Simulaciónes determinísticos demuestran también que nuestro método tiene unfundamento teórico bien hecho. Así es que no podemos compartir el pesimismo de Corruccini et al. sobre la factibilidad de investigaciones paleodemográficas.

Holland sugiere que nosotros hayamos cometido un error por haber descrito un modelo unicausal de lafertilidad aumentada del Illinois occidente-central durante los tiempos prehistoricos. Holland sostiene que un modelo más completo de tipo multicausal, incorporando efectos coevolutivas, daría una descripción más correcta de los eventos que contribuyen a la fertilidad aumentada. Apreciamos la llamada de Holland por modelos más elaborados de comportamiento prehistórico y las interacciones evolutivas entre los seres humanos u otras organismos. Desafortunademente, no se puede probar su modelo porque incluye un circuito de realimentación sin variables exógenos. A causa de estafalta de entrada de afuera, el modelo de Holland es inmovible, y no se puede usarlo en sí para explicar cambios en el comportamiento o en la biología del organismo.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 626 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Asch, D. L. 1976 The Middle Woodland Population of the Lower Illinois Valley: A Study in Paleodemographic Methods. Scientific Papers No. 1. Northwestern University Archaeological Program, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar
Boquet, J. -P. 1979 Une Approche de la Fecondite des Populations inhumees. Bulletins et Memoires de la Soci Ste d'Anthropologie de Paris 6: 261–268.Google Scholar
Boquet-Appel, J. -P., and Masset, C. 1982 Farewell to Paleodemography. Journal of Human Evolution 11: 321–333.Google Scholar
Boquet-Appel, J. -P., and Masset, C. 1985 Paleodemography: Resurrection or Ghost? Journal of Human Evolution 14: 107–111.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E., and Konigsberg, L. W. 1985 Paleodemography: Critiques and Controversies. American Anthropologist 87: 316–333.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E., Konigsberg, L. W., and Bullington, J. 1986 Fertility and the Development of Agriculture in the Prehistoric Midwest. American Antiquity 51: 528–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullington, J. 1988 Deciduous Dental Microwear in Middle Woodland and Mississippian Populations from the Lower Illinois River Valley. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar
Conner, M. D. (editor) 1985 The Hill Creek Homestead. Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, Illinois.Google Scholar
Corruccini, R. S., Brandon, E. M., and Handler, J. S. 1989 Inferring Fertility from Relative Mortality in Historically Controlled Cemetery Remains from Barbados. American Antiquity 54: 609–614.Google Scholar
Corruccini, R. S., Handler, J. S., Mutaw, R., and Lange, F. W. 1982 Osteology of a Slave Burial Population from Barbados, West Indies. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 59: 443–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, J. A. 1985 The Logic of Causal Order. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 07-055. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills.Google Scholar
Droessler, J. 1981 Craniometry and Biological Distance. Research Series Vol. 1. Center for American Archeology, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar
Goldstein, L. G. 1980 Mississippian Mortuary Practices. Scientific Paper No. 4. Northwestern University, Archeological Program, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar
Handler, J. S., and Lange, F. W. 1978 Plantation Slavery in Barbados: An Archaeological and Historical Investigation. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Heise, D. R. 1975 Causal Analysis. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Hill, J. N. 1977 Systems Theory and the Explanation of Change. In Explanation of Prehistoric Change, edited by Hill, J. N., pp. 59–103. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Holland, T. D. 1989 Fertility in the Prehistoric Midwest: A Critique of Unifactoral Models. American Antiquity 54: 614–625.Google Scholar
Howell, N. 1979 Demography of the Dobe IKung. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Johansson, S. R., and Horowitz, S. 1986 Estimating Mortality in Skeletal Populations: Influence of the Growth Rate on the Interpretation of Levels and Trends During the Transition to Agriculture. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 71: 233–250.Google Scholar
Konigsberg, L. W. 1987 Population Genetic Models for Interpreting Prehistoric Intra-Cemetery Biological Variation. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, C. O. 1985 Dental Wear in the Libben Population: Its Functional Pattern and Role in the Determination of Adult Skeletal Age at Death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68: 47–56.Google Scholar
Miles, A. E. W. 1963a Dentition in the Assessment of Individual Age in Skeletal Material. In Dental Anthropology, edited by Brothwell, D. R., pp. 191–209. Pergamon Press, Oxford, England.Google Scholar
Miles, A. E. W. 1963b Dentition in the Estimation of Age. Journal of Dental Research 42: 255–263.Google Scholar
Pittenger, D. B. 1976 Projecting State and Local Populations. Ballinger Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Pollard, A. H., Yusuf, F., and Pollard, G. N. 1981 Demographic Techniques. 2nd ed. Pergamon Press, Elmsford, New York.Google Scholar
Sattenspiel, L., and Harpending, H. 1983 Stable Populations and Skeletal Age. American Antiquity 48: 489–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saxe, A. A. 1977 On the Origin of Evolutionary Processes: State Formation in the Sandwich Islands, A Systematic Approach. In Explanation of Prehistoric Change, edited by Hill, J. N., pp. 105–151. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Shryock, H. S., and Siegel, J. S. 1976 Methods and Materials of Demography. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
van Gerven, D. P., and Armelagos, G. J. 1983 “Farewell to Paleodemography?” Rumors of its Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated. Journal of Human Evolution 12: 353–360.Google Scholar
Weiss, K. M. 1973 Demographic Models for Anthropology. SAA Memoir No. 27. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Weiss, K. M., and Smouse, P. E. 1976 The Demographic Stability of Small Human Populations. In The Demographic Evolution of Human Populations, edited by Ward, R. H. and Weiss, K.M., pp. 59–73. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar