By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Conina said:
Rab said:

As Hunter Gatherers we had more time to ourselves, with our families...

With a life expectancy between 21 and 37 years most of us probably wouldn't have more time to ourselves and with our families, even with a few less hours of work per day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer#Social_and_economic_structure

Researchers Gurven and Kaplan have estimated that around 57% of hunter-gatherers reach the age of 15. Of those that reach 15 years of age, 64% continue to live to or past the age of 45. This places the life expectancy between 21 and 37 years. They further estimate that 70% of deaths are due to diseases of some kind, 20% of deaths come from violence or accidents and 10% are due to degenerative diseases.

Life expectancy is often brought up, but is rarely talked about how its measured, those extremely low life expectancies of Hunter Gatherers include deaths of children under 15, this of course pulls the average life expectancy down dramatically, if deaths at child birth and young children are taken out of the equation life expectancy of Hunter Gatherer Adults is comparable to modern humans    

Hunter Gatherers were subject to strong evolutionary pressures, any issues with the young were quickly weeded out, but once sexual mature was reached, the remaining adults would have a generally long life ahead, comparable to modern humans, growing taller with better teeth than post agricultural populations up until about the 1800's 

Last edited by Rab - on 05 July 2021