An Estimate of Mortality in a Pre‐Columbian Urban Population

Abstract

The excavation of an apartment compound, Tlajinga 33, of the city of Teotihuacan yielded a representative skeletal sample for a first paleodemographic study of a New World pre‐Columbian urban population. Life‐table analysis revealed a population with high juvenile mortality and a relatively short life span. Comparison with other populations revealed basic similarities in mortality between Teotihuacan and Old World preindustrial cities and differences with other non‐urban North American populations.