[azhenfud]

"The average life span was something like 45."

Just putting out a question here, but isn't the "45" factoring in the deaths from war also, making the ALS much lower than normal expectancy?

My paternal GGG Grandfathers both served CSA and both lived to 74 and 81, so on average, they defied the ALS of 45 by almost double.

Just a question....

[drjoe]

Well, compared to the general population combat deaths don't really make much of an impact. What drags down the 'average' life span back in those days was the horrendous mortality in childhood from infectious diseases and the one in twelve mortality of having babies. If you lived up to the age of forty or so and for a kid got past the scything of infectious disease, the mortality of child bearing and the moderate size mortality of accidental death [it is astonishing how many people died falling off of horses] you stood an excellent chance of making it into your sixties and up. It is my impression that heart disease and cancer were not as important a cause of death than as they are now.

[First Amendment]

Regarding life spans - I read several places that life spans in previous times weren't necessarily shorter but they factored in mothers dying young, high infant mortality, etc. Even in the middle ages if someone lived through childhood, they have a good shot at living til 70 or more.