IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/popdev/v33y2007i2p321-365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Longevity Among Hunter‐ Gatherers: A Cross‐Cultural Examination

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Gurven
  • Hillard Kaplan

Abstract

Post‐reproductive longevity is a robust feature of human life and not only a recent phenomenon caused by improvements in sanitation, public health, and medical advances. We argue for an adaptive life span of 68‐78 years for modern Homo sapiens based on our analysis of mortality profiles obtained from small‐scale hunter‐gatherer and horticultural populations from around the world. We compare patterns of survivorship across the life span, rates of senescence, modal ages at adult death, and causes of death. We attempt to reconcile our results with those derived from paleodemographic studies that characterize prehistoric human lives as “nasty, brutish, and short,” and with observations of recent acculturation among contemporary subsistence populations. We integrate information on age‐specific dependency and resource production to help explain the adaptive utility of longevity in humans from an evolutionary perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Gurven & Hillard Kaplan, 2007. "Longevity Among Hunter‐ Gatherers: A Cross‐Cultural Examination," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(2), pages 321-365, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:33:y:2007:i:2:p:321-365
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hillard Kaplan & Michael Gurven, 2008. "Top-down and bottom-up research in biodemography," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(44), pages 1587-1602.
    2. James A. Brander, 2010. "Presidential Address: Innovation in retrospect and prospect," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1087-1121, November.
    3. Silke van Daalen & Hal Caswell, 2015. "Lifetime reproduction and the second demographic transition: Stochasticity and individual variation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(20), pages 561-588.
    4. Missov, Trifon I. & Lenart, Adam, 2013. "Gompertz–Makeham life expectancies: Expressions and applications," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 29-35.
    5. James R. Carey, 2008. "Biodemography: Research prospects and directions," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(50), pages 1749-1758.
    6. Arthur J. Robson & Larry Samuelson, 2009. "The Evolution of Time Preference with Aggregate Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1925-1953, December.
    7. Pavard, Samuel & Branger, Frédéric, 2012. "Effect of maternal and grandmaternal care on population dynamics and human life-history evolution: A matrix projection model," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 82(4), pages 364-376.
    8. Terence C. Burnham & Jay Phelan, 2023. "Ordinaries 12," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 75-98, August.
    9. Michal Engelman & Christopher L. Seplaki & Ravi Varadhan, 2017. "A Quiescent Phase in Human Mortality? Exploring the Ages of Least Vulnerability," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1097-1118, June.
    10. Karen L. Kramer, 2021. "The Human Family—Its Evolutionary Context and Diversity," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Loo, Sara L. & Rose, Danya & Hawkes, Kristen & Kim, Peter S., 2021. "Mate guarding in primates arises due to partner scarcity, even if the father provides no paternal care at all," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 100-113.
    12. Michael Gurven & Adrian V Jaeggi & Hillard Kaplan & Daniel Cummings, 2013. "Physical Activity and Modernization among Bolivian Amerindians," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, January.
    13. Fogarty, L. & Creanza, N. & Feldman, M.W., 2013. "The role of cultural transmission in human demographic change: An age-structured model," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 68-77.
    14. Rose, Danya & Hawkes, Kristen & Kim, Peter S., 2019. "Adult sex ratio as an index for male strategy in primates," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 40-50.
    15. Betz, Ulrich A.K., 2018. "Is the force awakening?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 296-303.
    16. Jon Anson, 2013. "Surviving to be the oldest old—destiny or chance?," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 11(1), pages 71-85.
    17. Le, Anthia & Hawkes, Kristen & Kim, Peter S., 2022. "Male mating choices: The drive behind menopause?," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 126-135.
    18. James W. Vaupel, 2009. "Lively Questions for Demographers about Death at Older Ages," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 347-356, June.
    19. Arthur Robson & Larry Samuelson, 2008. "The Evolution of Decision and Experienced Utilities," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1678, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Feb 2010.
    20. Shiro Horiuchi & Nadine Ouellette & Siu Lan Karen Cheung & Jean-Marie Robine, 2013. "Modal age at death: lifespan indicator in the era of longevity extension," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 11(1), pages 37-69.
    21. Giambattista Salinari & Gustavo De Santis, 2020. "One or more rates of ageing? The extended gamma-Gompertz model (EGG)," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 29(2), pages 211-236, June.
    22. Annette Baudisch & James W. Vaupel, 2009. "Senescence vs. sustenance: evolutionary-demographic models of aging," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2009-040, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:33:y:2007:i:2:p:321-365. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0098-7921 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.