Longevity Among Hunter‐ Gatherers: A Cross‐Cultural Examination
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Level assigned by design analogy (cross-sectional/ecological comparative demographic synthesis of small-scale subsistence populations).
OpenAlex W2054396204 · doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x
What was done
The authors analyzed mortality profiles from small-scale hunter-gatherer and horticultural populations worldwide. They compared survivorship patterns across the life span, rates of senescence, modal ages of adult death, and causes of death, and integrated age-specific dependency and resource production data to evaluate the evolutionary basis of human longevity.
What was found
The authors identified an adaptive life span of 68 to 78 years for modern *Homo sapiens*. The abstract reports no other specific numerical parameters, sample sizes, or statistical confidence intervals.
Why it matters
It provides demographic evidence that post-reproductive longevity is an evolved characteristic of human life history rather than a novel product of modern public health and medicine.
Limits
The abstract does not disclose the sample sizes, number of populations analyzed, or specific statistical methods. Findings rely on extant traditional subsistence populations as proxies for ancestral humans and may be confounded by varying degrees of contact or acculturation.
Cited by
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