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Paleodemographic Correlates of Fertility: A Reply to Corruccini, Brandon, and Handler and to Holland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lyle W. Konigsberg ,
Jane E. Buikstra  and
Jill Bullington
Lyle W. Konigsberg
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605
Jane E. Buikstra
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
Jill Bullington
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208
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Abstract

Corruccini et al. apply our method of fertility estimation to a Barbados slave population, find that it yields contradictory and erratic estimates of the crude birth rate (CBR), examine its theoretical basis, and conclude that a pessimistic view of paleodemography in general is warranted. We argue that the sample utilized by Corruccini et al. is not well suited for methodological testing. Misestimates of fertility more likely were caused by the peculiarities of this particular sample than by flaws in our method or weaknesses in its theoretical foundation. Deterministic simulations also demonstrate that our method is theoretically well founded. We cannot, therefore, share Corruccini et al.'s pessimism concerning the feasibility of paleodemographic research.

Holland suggests we have erred by providing a "unicausal" model for increased fertility in prehistoric west-central Illinois. He argues that a fuller multicausal model including coevolutionary effects provides a more accurate depiction of the prehistoric events contributing to increased fertility. We appreciate Holland's call for more elaborate models of prehistoric behaviors and evolutionary interactions between humans and other organisms. Unfortunately, his model is untestable because it includes a feedback loop with no exogenous variables. Because of a lack of outside input, Holland's model is immobile and cannot be used in itself to explain changes in organismal biology or behavior.

Résumé

Résumé

Corruccini et al. aplicaron nuestros métodos de estimar lafertilidad de una populación de esclavos de la Barbada, encontraron que el método dió estimados irregulares y contradictorios de la natalidad cruda (CBR), examinaron su base teórica, y concluyeron que una vista pesimista de la paloedemografía en general es debido. Nosotros sostenemos que la muestra utilizada por Corruccini et al. no es adequada para hacerpruebas metodológicas. Las malestimados de la fertilidad tengan más probabilidad de ser causados por las peculiaridades de la muestra particular de Corruccini et al. que por unas desperfectos de nuestro método o unas debilidades de sufundamento teórico. Simulaciónes determinísticos demuestran también que nuestro método tiene unfundamento teórico bien hecho. Así es que no podemos compartir el pesimismo de Corruccini et al. sobre la factibilidad de investigaciones paleodemográficas.

Holland sugiere que nosotros hayamos cometido un error por haber descrito un modelo unicausal de lafertilidad aumentada del Illinois occidente-central durante los tiempos prehistoricos. Holland sostiene que un modelo más completo de tipo multicausal, incorporando efectos coevolutivas, daría una descripción más correcta de los eventos que contribuyen a la fertilidad aumentada. Apreciamos la llamada de Holland por modelos más elaborados de comportamiento prehistórico y las interacciones evolutivas entre los seres humanos u otras organismos. Desafortunademente, no se puede probar su modelo porque incluye un circuito de realimentación sin variables exógenos. A causa de estafalta de entrada de afuera, el modelo de Holland es inmovible, y no se puede usarlo en sí para explicar cambios en el comportamiento o en la biología del organismo.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 626 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

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