Australian National University archaeologist Christine Cave has dispelled the myth that most people rarely lived to be 50 before the advent of modern medicine.
Cave developed a new method for determining the age of the deceased from skeletal remains. As part of the study, the scientist takes into account how badly worn a person's teeth are. The archaeologist has already studied the remains of people buried in three Anglo-Saxon cemeteries between 475 and 625 years, and the results showed that these people often lived to a ripe old age.
“People sometimes think that it was a great success to be 40 in those days, but this is not true. For people living traditional lives without modern medicine, the most common age of death was 70,”said Cave, quoted on the Australian National University website.
She also explained that the myth about the age of the deceased is due to the fact that archaeologists lack methods to identify the elderly. “Older people are ignored in archaeological research, and the reason for this is the inability to identify them. When you determine the age of children, you pay attention to points of development, such as the appearance of teeth or strengthening of bones, all of this happens at a certain age.
However, once people are fully grown, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine their age from skeletal remains, so most studies have the highest age category 40 plus or 45 plus,”explained Cave.