Impact of Subsistence on Demographic Patterns in Bronze Age to Early Iron Age in Northern China

Abstract

Demography is the study of human population dynamics including deaths, births, and migrations. Statistical analysis can help researchers understand paleodemographic patterns of health, mortality, and morbidity among ancient populations. Generally speaking, population is affected by both the natural environment and social conditions. This research is based on six archaeological cemetery sites located in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Shanxi Provinces in northern China, temporally spanning from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age (about 1000 BC–200 BC). This study demonstrates how subsistence patterns influence the population in the north of ancient China. The results show that the mortality rate of the population groups that relied on animal husbandry peaks much earlier than among the agricultural groups; the estimated life expectancy of members of the agricultural economy group is longer than that of those in the animal husbandry group; and the animal husbandry group shows a relatively larger sex imbalance.