Demographic Change through Analysis of Age Profiles of Burial Data

Summary

A series of mortuary sites on the Texas Coastal Plain provide a dataset useful for analyzing demographic change through examination of age profiles. Other archaeological data suggest that populations peaked during the Late Archaic period (4000-800 BP) and sharply declined during the Late Prehistoric period (800-350 BP). Analysis of the ratio of adults to young individuals has been used to identify rapid population growth among other populations. Hunter-gatherer groups living in the Texas Coastal Plain developed complex and stable human-resource systems that utilized a variety of habitats across the Coastal, Riverine, and Inland Zones. The heterogeneity of available resource rich environments within a short distance enhanced resilience to resource fluctuations. This adaptation appears to have remained relatively stable for much of the Holocene providing the ecological context for rapid population growth. As part of a National Science Foundation grant, we are using burial data from a series of mortuary sites to identify periods of population growth and decline and how they compare to archaeological expectations, Late Holocene climate change, and other factors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PAGES (Past Global Changes) PEOPLE 3000 - PalEOclimate and the PeopLing of the Earth   •
• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22255