A manifesto for palaeodemography in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Demography is the study of human populations and their structure, i.e. the composition of populations, and the subdivision of the metapopulation into smaller subunits. Palaeodemography refers to the study of the demography of ancient populations for which there are no written sources (broadly synonymous with 'prehistoric demography') [1]. Palaeodemography shares the core aims of its present-day counterpart, namely, to document and explain changes within, and variations between, the size and structure of human populations. However, by definition, no direct demographic data equivalent to modernday censuses or registration forms exist for prehistoric populations. Instead, palaeodemographic information is derived from a wide range of proxies, which only indirectly inform on demographic processes and parameters.