Life and Death in the Ancient City of Teotihuacan: A Modern Paleodemographic Synthesis

References Cited

266 Life and Death in Teotihuacan The importance of this reconstruction is that the effects of dense population upon mortality and health, where public sanitation systems are inadequate, are likely to be fairly uniform across environments and cultures. Although Teotihuacan may not have suffered greatly from waves of epidemic infectious diseases as had Old World cities (McNeill 1976), the evidence from Tlajinga 33 is that physiological stress in the form of infection and undernutrition was common, if not chronic, among the residents. It seems reasonable that the dense population together with a lack of water for part of the year would have supported a high load of endemic infections and parasitic diseases. These infections would have been continually circulating in the population. The evidence for probable lifelong undernutrition in Tlajinga 33 indicates that Teotihuacan was also not totally successful in supporting its populations, especially the full-time craft specialists in the lower social strata. As is common with known preindustrial cities, the Tlajinga 33 population is best modeled as barely stable, or slightly declining, with high infant mortality and a short average lifespan for adults. Over the long run, such a demographic profile would lead to a declining resident population , and as Teotihuacan would then not have been self-sustaining in reproduction, it was ultimately dependent on some migration. Tlajinga 33 is the only skeletal population presently available and studied by the use of recent techniques for aging and paleopathological indications. Its evidence at the moment carries considerable importance and has to be treated as representative of the majority of the population of Teotihuacan until more information is available. It is not unreasonable that a dense population under the energy and sanitation systems present in the culture would have suffered deleterious effects on individual health and life expectancy. Thus, it is expected that future evidence will support the Tlajinga 33 reconstruction, especially for the poorer sectors. The wealthy sectors may very well reveal a much better health and mortality profile, although in Europe, wealthy sectors were generally just able to replace themselves. This study of the Tlajinga 33 skeletal population is only one window into the life of the city of Teotihuacan, but its demographic and health characteristics provide a wealth of information regarding what kind of place the city was to live in. Furthermore, the study successfully demonstrates that many of the methodological objections to the use of paleodemography disappear when the archaeological (cultural) context of the population is understood. Paleodemography provides valid and important insights into the lives and deaths of past populations. APPENDIX Metric Measurements Used in the Discriminant-Function Sexing Cranium 1. The maximum length of the skull, from the most anterior point of the frontal, in the midline, to the most distant point on the occipital, in the midline. 2. The greatest breadth of the cranium perpendicular to the median sagittal place and avoiding any supramastoid crest. 3. The maximum breadth of the palate taken on the outside of the alveolar borders, at the level of the second molars. 4. The length of the mastoid measured perpendicular to the plane determined by the Frankfort plane. The upper arm of the sliding calipers is aligned with the upper border of the auditory meatus, and the distance to the tip of the mastoid is measured. Mandible 1. The mandibular body height as measured between the first and second molars on the buccal surface. 2. The maximum thickness of the mandibular body measured at the level of the second molar. 3. The smallest anteroposterior diameter of the ramus of the mandible. 4. The distance between the most anterior point of the mandibular body (gnathion) to the most posterior point on the ramus (not including the condyle). 268 Appendix 5. The height measured from the uppermost point on the condyle to the middle of the inferior border of the body (height of ramus). 6. The maximum diameter, externally, between left and right gonion (bigonial breadth). 7. The gonial angle. Dentition 1. The maximum mesiodistal diameter taken at the level of the cementa -enamel junction on all crowns of the mandibular and maxillary teeth. Note: This is not the standard measurement but was used as it was thought this might avoid problems of attrition and broken occlusal surfaces in taking the diameter. It was not particularly successful in the discrimination. 2. The maximum buccolingual diameter taken on all crowns of the mandibular and maxillary teeth. Antimeres, where present...