This kind of approach is also what perpetuates myths like the idea that human lifespans used to average out at around 30 years old. This might have been true for medieval and early industrial Europe. But everywhere else in the world the average lifespan past the age of 5 was between 70-80 years old. People's non-industrial lives were not "nasty, brutish, and short" as the popular Western imagination holds it. It's the medieval peasant and the early industrial worker who's life was so short
By the medieval period, the vast majority of the world were peasants, and they did not live significantly better outside of Europe. Asia had significantly higher agricultural productivity, which made their lives more stable on average, but when famine did strike, it was far deadlier because foraging was less of an option.
> But everywhere else in the world the average lifespan past the age of 5 was between 70-80 years old
Uh, no.
The life expectancy for those who lived past 15 during the Paleolithic was 39 years. For the Neolithic it was 28-33 years. It hardly matters where you look either. In the Americas, for instance an Aztec's life expectancy at 15 averaged just another 19 years. For Copán, those who had reached 15 lived on average another 29 years. In say, Japan during the Jomon period, someone who lived to 15 could expect to live another 32 years.
Accidents, disease, childbirth, famine and war killed a lot of people. While the average life expectancy is "skewed" because of high infant mortality, it was still brutishly short even when early childhood is excluded.
This is extremely outdated science that doesn't utilize archeological evidence well and makes a lot of assumptions.
The current emerging consensus is a constant of around 70 years of age. In fact, there is a remarkable similarity between the mortality profiles of various traditional peoples.
The former post appears to cite a study of hunter gatherers in the 20th century.
The latter explicitly states that life expectancy at 15 has risen significantly over the last 600 years for women and used studies that exclude violent deaths for men and was limited to societies’ elite classes.
Just to be clear, citing Wikipedia's table (which appears to be your source), in the Paleolithic that's an additional 39 years after reaching age 15. Or in other words, average life expectancy, conditioned on having survived childhood, was 54 years.
And, as you note, that figure actually decreased in the Neolithic and Bronze/Iron Age. Early civilization was seemingly harder living for adults than was the Paleolithic era.
