Presented in person and online. Zoom details below

Palaeodemography aims to investigate past human population trends using archaeological evidence including skeletal samples and their respective age-at-death distributions. It is commonly accepted that bioarchaeological samples have a degree of under-representation of individuals aged 0-14 years (pre-adults), however, methods for estimating fertility rely on these individuals. This presentation will synthesise the factors which may influence pre-adult representation in a skeletal sample, then introduce a new palaeodemographic model to aid estimating fertility when underenumeration is likely. This presentation will also demonstrate the use of these new tools on early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, further highlighting the complexity of pre-adult representation and fertility estimates in archaeological skeletal samples. 

About the Speaker

Bonnie is a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University. Her thesis re-examines empirical palaeodemographic techniques for under-representative archaeological skeletal populations. 

Zoom details: 
https://anu.zoom.us/meeting/register/al2in7XrRzahkXtEPpZJTA

Presented as part of the School of Archaeology and Anthropology's 2025 Biological Anthropology Research (BAR) Seminar series