Paleodemographic approach to a high medieval population of the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

This paper analyzes the data of the anthropological and archaeological study of the cemetery of Santa María de Tejuela that can provide information on paleodemographic data. The total number of individuals amounts to 182, although only 125 have assigned age at death and sex. There are more men (n=55) than women (n=42), and most died before approximately the age of 40, and women older than 60 were not detected. The number of burials of children and juvenile people is low (n=31), and the estimated juvenile rate is significantly lower than that of other contemporary populations in the region. Subadults show very high mortality in the first years of life (18.4%). Adult mortality outcomes are consistent with those of a medieval rural population, with low average life expectancy. The scarcity of infant and juvenile burials provides a mortality profile different from that expected in pre-industrial populations, and cannot be attributed exclusively to taphonomic or methodological factors. Possibly we are facing a population with low fertility, in which there could be emigrants who did not form families in the place, which would fit with the instability of life in a border area.