Paleodemography: Age Distributions from Skeletal Samples

by Robert D. Hoppa (Editor), James W. Vaupel (Editor)

Overview

In this book, physical anthropologists, mathematical demographers, and statisticians tackle methodological issues for reconstructing demographic structure for skeletal samples. Topics discussed include how skeletal morphology is linked to chronological age, assessment of age from the skeleton, demographic models of mortality and their interpretation, and biostatistical approaches to age structure estimation from archaeological samples. This work will be of immense importance to anyone interested in paleodemography, including biological and physical anthropologists, demographers, geographers, evolutionary biologists, and statisticians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521089166
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2008
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology , #31
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

ROBERT D. HOPPA is a physical anthropologist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Manitoba. His research interests include historical demography, epidemiology, human skeletal biology, growth and development and forensic anthropology. He has also co-edited Human Growth in the Past: Studies from Bones and Teeth (1999; ISBN 0 521 63153 X).

JAMES W. VAUPEL is a demographer and is currently Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. He is also Professor of Demography and Epidemiology at the Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, and Senior Research Scientist at the Sanford Institute at Duke University in North Carolina. His research focuses on human biodemography, human longevity and centenarian research. He has authored or edited numerous books in the field of demography, particularly oldest old mortality, including Population Data at a Glance (1997), The Force of Mortality at Ages 80 to 120 (1998), and Validation of Exceptional Longevity (1999).

Table of Contents

1. The Rostock Manifesto for paleodemography: the way from stage to age Robert D. Hoppa and James W. Vaupel; 2. Paleodemography: looking back and thinking ahead Robert D. Hoppa; 3. Reference samples: the first step in linking biology and age in the human skeleton Bethany M. Usher; 4. Aging through the ages: historical perspectives on age-indicator methods Ariane Kemkes-Grottenthaler; 5. Transition analysis: a new method for estimating age-indicator methods Jesper L. Boldsen, George R. Milner, Lyle W. Konigsberg and James W. Wood; 6. Age estimation by tooth cementum annulation - perspectives of a new validation study Ursula Wittwer-Backofen and H. Buba; 7. Mortality models for paleodemography James W. Wood, Darryl J. Holman, Kathleen A. O'Connor and Rebecca J. Ferrell; 8. Linking age-at-death distributions and ancient population dynamics: a case study Richard R. Paine and Jesper L. Boldsen; 9. A solution to the problem of obtaining a mortality schedule for paleodemographic data Bradley Love and Hans-Georg Müller; 10. Estimating age-at-death distributions from skeletal samples: a multivariate latent trait approach Darryl J. Holman, James W. Wood and Kathleen A. O'Connor; 11. Markov Chain Monte Carlo estimation of hazard model parameters in paleodemography Lyle W. Konigsberg and Nicholas P. Herrmann; 12. A re-examination of the age-at-death distribution of Indian Knoll Nicholas P. Herrmann and Lyle W. Konigsberg.

Editorial Reviews

"Paleodemography has a checkered history and this book will mark a milepost." American Journal of Human Biology

"...paleodemographers, skeletal biologists, forensic anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, as well as archaeologists will find Paleodemography an important resource." SAS Bulletin

From the Publisher