The True Lifespan of Hunter-gatherers

One of the main misconceptions about hunter-gatherers is that they died at the age of 30. While it is true that the mean life span was 30 to 40 years it does not mean most of them died at that age. It is a matter of how we interpret the statistics.

The reason why this is so is that infant mortality in those tribes was 30 times higher than it is now. Childhood mortality was 100 times higher. This is what dramatically brings the average down.

Infanticide

One of the main culprits of high infant mortality was infanticide. It is believed that somewhere between 15 and 50% of all babies died from this cause! Infanticide, as horrible as it sounds to us modern humans, was a common practice back in the day. In a world without doctors and a modern medical system only the strongest were able to survive. Ask yourself, would you have made it out of childhood if you had never seen a doctor? Even if you just had pneumonia, without the modern medicine you might have not made it. In fact, UNICEF says today pneumonia is still the leading infectious cause of death among children under 5, killing approximately 800,000 children a year even though the disease is entirely preventable and can be easily managed with antibiotics.

In the ancient tribes, if a baby was born unhealthy, a tribe was going through limited resources or a mother already had too many babies to nurse and care for, the likelihood of this new weak and sick child surviving to adulthood would be poor. Killing her newborn now would save her from the later grief of seeing the child die later. Infanticide was simply considered a very late abortion, since abortion as we know it now was impossible.

Life expectancy

A study of longevity among hunter-gatherers found that if a member of the tribe was to reach the age of 15, the average age of death was 72. This is only a few years shorter than the lifespan of people in modern society - and without the help of modern medicine! The reasons people died were nothing similar to the reasons people die today. Diabetes and hypertension were practically nonexistent.

A study was conducted on Hiwi tribes, a traditional hunter-gatherer tribe living in the savannas of western Venezuela and eastern Columbia with no contact with western society, as this would be the most comparable lifestyle to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

The reasons for death

About 40% of the population died of infectious diseases like malaria, respiratory infection, diarrhoea, and measles. Wars between the tribes contributed to around 20% of deaths, infanticide to around 7.5%, childbirth deaths 7%, environmental hazards and human-caused accidents both around 4% and suicide 1.5%. Organic complications like heart problems, cancer or a swallowed tongue contributed to less than 0.5%. Nutritional deficiencies, starvation and malnourishment were not found to be a contributor to any deaths.

As you can see, the causes of death were completely different from the ones we have in modern society. Cancer, heart disease, and diabetes were practically unheard of in the ancient tribes. These tribes knew nothing about handwashing or any other sanitary practices so most of the studied members died of infectious diseases spawned by the agrarian revolution that had made it to every nook and cranny across the world.

The high percentage of violent deaths was specific to the studied tribe due to the circumstances they were in. They were forced into the reservation area with another tribe they had been in war for a long time. At the same time, they had to constantly fight Venezuelan farmers who were trying to steal their land. The Tanzanian Hadza tribe, for example, had a death rate due to war of only around 2.5%.

The deaths from malnourishment were practically non-existent among the tribe members. With all the food production and the overeating epidemic we are witnessing today, we have to ask ourselves how can we still allow half of all deaths in children under the age of 5 to be due to poor nutrition and hunger - around 3.1 million children a year?!

Conclusion

The time we live in is beautiful. We have the resources and the knowledge to not only live longer but to live well. Yet, the modern world has managed to trick us into thinking that more comfortable and safer is better for us. Contrary to general belief, life expectancy is beginning to decline instead of rise. Healthspan (or how many years one can live without major ailments and medications) has been in a terrible state for quite some time since all we are doing is extending the life of the sick and weak by overmedicating them and feeding the system that thrives on keeping us sick and dependent.

Only now the wider public is beginning to understand and appreciate that our biology was designed to be constantly tested and challenged. We need daily movement and occasional intense stressors just as much as we need real, locally sourced food, clean air and water and a way to relax and rest, play and connect with the tribe.

By studying pre-modern society cultures we can learn so much about how we can live well. And with the help of modern science, we can completely eradicate the ailments and problems they were facing and truly create a long and good life.

Source: Book The Awakened Ape by Jevan Pradas