“区域模型生命表”在古人口学研究中的应用

Application of the Regional Model Life Tables in Paleodemography

作为普通生命表的归纳总结,"模型生命表"反映了人口发展的普遍现象和内在规律。本文将"区域模型生命表"引入古人口学研究,以大甸子墓地为例对婴幼儿组和高龄组死亡人数进行了调整。根据校正后数据所编制的简略生命表,该遗址人口平均预期寿命下降为24.12岁,年龄别死亡率曲线呈更加合理的"U"型。鉴于古人口学中样本容量和代表性往往较差,引入"区域模型生命表"对偏差数据校正后再进行人口研究将使所得结论更加合理可靠。

As a summary of normal life tables,model life tables reflect many universal phenomena and internal disciplines of demography and thus play an important role in modern demographic analysis.In this article,Coale-Demeny’s regional model life tables are introduced into the paleodemographical research.Take Dadianzi cemetery for example,we first adjust the distribution of age at death,especially the death number of the infant and the old,in light of archaeological context and anthropological studies.Then,we use the adjusted data to reconstruct the abridged life table of this site,according to which the average life expectancy is lowered to 24.12 years old.Correspondingly,age-specific mortality shows the typical U-shaped curve,which is more reasonable than before from the perspective of demography.Considering the limitation of traditional life table method in paleodemography,we should be fully aware that it is essential to evaluate the size and representativeness of a sample before the subsequent demographic analysis.Regional model life tables can be used as a refence in the process of adjusting the biased raw data,which will promote the development of paleodemography in the future.