:^) The average figure for Neandertal DNA is about the same as each of our great-great-great-great-grandcestors, and of course that's based on reliance on very few surviving samples.
Posted on 11/27/2021 12:10:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv
"It has long been assumed that if there are a lot of deceased babies in a burial sample, then infant mortality must have been high," lead author Dr. Clare McFadden, from the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology, said.
"Many have assumed that infant mortality was very high in the past in the absence of modern healthcare.
"When we look at these burial samples, it actually tells us more about the number of babies that were born and tells us very little about the number of babies that were dying, which is counterintuitive to past perceptions."
The researchers examined United Nations (UN) data from the past decade for 97 countries that looked at infant mortality, fertility and the number of deaths that occurred during infancy. The analysis revealed that fertility had a much greater influence on the proportion of deceased infants than the infant mortality rate.
Because there is very little known about early human societies, the UN data helped the researchers make interpretations about humans from the past 10,000 years.
"Archaeology has often looked at the proportion of deceased infants to learn something about infant mortality. There was an assumption that nearly half, 40 percent, of all babies born in prehistoric populations died within the first year of their lives," Dr. McFadden said.
After analyzing the UN data, Dr. McFadden found no evidence to support this assumption.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
I hate how archeologists always presume the worst about the people who came before us.
Why would they think that prehistoric mothers would not treat their babies well.
Heck, I’ve seen animals treat their babies better than far too many humans.
I seriously doubt that pre-historic mothers aborted their unborn children for convenience sake
Now they just slaughter them wholesale before and even after birth.
See how far they’ve progressed since the Stone Age? 🤪
Actually, every baby found buried is a baby that died.
I suppose the professor means that the *number* of babies who died does not provide information about the *percentage* of babies who died rather than survived past infancy.
:^) The average figure for Neandertal DNA is about the same as each of our great-great-great-great-grandcestors, and of course that's based on reliance on very few surviving samples.
Yup.
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