Modelling age at death reveals Nordic Corded Ware paleodemography
Tornberg, Anna LU
and Vandkilde, Helle
LU
(2025)
In Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
17(2).
- Abstract
- Drawing on modelling of age at death in skeletal remains, this article unveils hitherto unrecognized demographic patterns in the Nordic Corded Ware complex. This population formed part of the European Corded Ware complex that has been linked to disruption observed in the archaeological and genetic record. The newly developed methods of transition analysis 3 (TA3) and death rate ratio (DRR) were used to process skeletal data from 67 individuals deriving from single, double, and multiple graves in Scandinavia. The results disclose a high proportion of immature individuals aged less than twenty years. Attrition, however, complies with a demography with high age-nonspecific mortality, and this may connect to stressors such as epidemic diseases... (More)
- Drawing on modelling of age at death in skeletal remains, this article unveils hitherto unrecognized demographic patterns in the Nordic Corded Ware complex. This population formed part of the European Corded Ware complex that has been linked to disruption observed in the archaeological and genetic record. The newly developed methods of transition analysis 3 (TA3) and death rate ratio (DRR) were used to process skeletal data from 67 individuals deriving from single, double, and multiple graves in Scandinavia. The results disclose a high proportion of immature individuals aged less than twenty years. Attrition, however, complies with a demography with high age-nonspecific mortality, and this may connect to stressors such as epidemic diseases and endemic warfare. Compared to the partly contemporaneous Pitted Ware complex and the succeeding Late Neolithic–earliest Bronze Age period, the Nordic Corded Ware burials overall point to robust population growth, especially in the later period. This in turn aligns with a sedentary lifestyle rather than a mobile pastoral economy. Short-distance seasonal movements could fit in but cannot yet be measured. Recent genetics have demonstrated biological input in the female line from populations such as Funnel Beaker, Pitted Ware, and herders of the steppe forest zone: the remarkable tallness of Nordic Corded Ware individuals may well be an effect of such admixture. The burials moreover evidence a distinct adult male sex bias, which diminishes over time along with the growth in the number of buried females and young individuals. Judging from investment in graves and grave goods, immatures were highly valued. The scale of social status operates independently of age. Alongside the revealed Nordic Corded Ware demography and the burial and material record more broadly, this could indicate social inequality based on kinship and warrior values. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Drawing on modelling of age at death in skeletal remains, this article unveils hitherto unrecognized demographic patterns in the Nordic Corded Ware complex. This population formed part of the European Corded Ware complex that has been linked to disruption observed in the archaeological and genetic record. The newly developed methods of transition analysis 3 (TA3) and death rate ratio (DRR) were used to process skeletal data from 67 individuals deriving from single, double, and multiple graves in Scandinavia. The results disclose a high proportion of immature individuals aged less than twenty years.
Attrition, however, complies with a demography with high age-nonspecifc mortality, and this may connect to stressors such as epidemic... (More) - Drawing on modelling of age at death in skeletal remains, this article unveils hitherto unrecognized demographic patterns in the Nordic Corded Ware complex. This population formed part of the European Corded Ware complex that has been linked to disruption observed in the archaeological and genetic record. The newly developed methods of transition analysis 3 (TA3) and death rate ratio (DRR) were used to process skeletal data from 67 individuals deriving from single, double, and multiple graves in Scandinavia. The results disclose a high proportion of immature individuals aged less than twenty years.
Attrition, however, complies with a demography with high age-nonspecifc mortality, and this may connect to stressors such as epidemic diseases and endemic warfare. Compared to the partly contemporaneous Pitted Ware complex and the succeeding Late Neolithic–earliest Bronze Age period, the Nordic Corded Ware burials overall point to robust population growth, especially in the later period. This in turn aligns with a sedentary lifestyle rather than a mobile pastoral economy. Short distance seasonal movements could ft in but cannot yet be measured. Recent genetics have demonstrated biological input
in the female line from populations such as Funnel Beaker, Pitted Ware, and herders of the steppe forest zone: the remarkable tallness of Nordic Corded Ware individuals may well be an efect of such admixture. The burials moreover evidence a distinct adult male sex bias, which diminishes over time along with the growth in the number of buried females and young individuals. Judging from investment in graves and grave goods, immatures were highly valued. The scale of social status operates independently of age. Alongside the revealed Nordic Corded Ware demography and the burial and material record more broadly, this could indicate social inequality based on kinship and warrior values. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8b56ab9e-6696-45b7-b722-e33ee045a2e0
- author
- Tornberg, Anna
LU
and Vandkilde, Helle
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
- volume
- 17
- issue
- 2
- article number
- 38
- pages
- 19 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85217637048
- ISSN
- 1866-9565
- DOI
- 10.1007/s12520-024-02159-2
- project
- Violence and Warfare in the Nordic Corded Ware Complex: An Interdisciplinary Approach
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8b56ab9e-6696-45b7-b722-e33ee045a2e0
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-31 14:19:47
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:13:59
@article{8b56ab9e-6696-45b7-b722-e33ee045a2e0,
abstract = {{Drawing on modelling of age at death in skeletal remains, this article unveils hitherto unrecognized demographic patterns in the Nordic Corded Ware complex. This population formed part of the European Corded Ware complex that has been linked to disruption observed in the archaeological and genetic record. The newly developed methods of transition analysis 3 (TA3) and death rate ratio (DRR) were used to process skeletal data from 67 individuals deriving from single, double, and multiple graves in Scandinavia. The results disclose a high proportion of immature individuals aged less than twenty years. Attrition, however, complies with a demography with high age-nonspecific mortality, and this may connect to stressors such as epidemic diseases and endemic warfare. Compared to the partly contemporaneous Pitted Ware complex and the succeeding Late Neolithic–earliest Bronze Age period, the Nordic Corded Ware burials overall point to robust population growth, especially in the later period. This in turn aligns with a sedentary lifestyle rather than a mobile pastoral economy. Short-distance seasonal movements could fit in but cannot yet be measured. Recent genetics have demonstrated biological input in the female line from populations such as Funnel Beaker, Pitted Ware, and herders of the steppe forest zone: the remarkable tallness of Nordic Corded Ware individuals may well be an effect of such admixture. The burials moreover evidence a distinct adult male sex bias, which diminishes over time along with the growth in the number of buried females and young individuals. Judging from investment in graves and grave goods, immatures were highly valued. The scale of social status operates independently of age. Alongside the revealed Nordic Corded Ware demography and the burial and material record more broadly, this could indicate social inequality based on kinship and warrior values.}},
author = {{Tornberg, Anna and Vandkilde, Helle}},
issn = {{1866-9565}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences}},
title = {{Modelling age at death reveals Nordic Corded Ware paleodemography}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12520-024-02159-2}},
doi = {{10.1007/s12520-024-02159-2}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2025}},
}