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Paleodemography of the Valdivia III Phase at Real Alto, Ecuador

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Linda L. Klepinger
Linda L. Klepinger*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Vrbana, IL 61801
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Abstract

The Early Formative site of Real Alto on the southern coast of Ecuador yielded a minimum of 72 human burials attributable to the Valdivia III phase. The construction of an abridged life table represents the first demographic analysis of a prehistoric South American population. Expectation of life at birth was 21 years and at age 15 was 18 years. Comparison with model life tables suggests a crude birthrate of 0.048, a generation length of about 26 years, and completed family size of 6.4 children. The fact that the sample represents a natural population argues against the suggestion that the skeletons largely represent victims of ritual sacrifice.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , April 1979 , pp. 305 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

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References

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