الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Recent Advances in Palaeodemography : Data, Techniques, Patterns
The written data used by demographers essentially cover the last five centuries. Since Homo Ergaster moved out of Africa around 1.8 million years ago and until the sub-contemporary periods, there is no data allowing us to reconstruct a demographic history that can be interpreted with the traditional tools of demography. If we want to be able to tackle demographic issues over a long evolutionary duration, trying to reconstitute our human demographic history and thinking out and testing macro-demographic theories, we need to draw on sources other than written data and on techniques other than those commonly used by demographers. This necessarily means using information of every kind, from archaeology, physical anthropology, paleontology, primatology or genetics, along with relevant models of interpretation.
Handbook of Population
The Handbook of Population is organized for classroom as well as reference use. It is divided into four sections – Population Structure, Population Processes, Population and the Social Sciences, and Applied Demography – and includes both an Introduction and an Epilogue by the editors. Part I, Population Structure, contains chapters on population size and growth, age and sex composition, marriage and family structure, and demographic analyses of gender, aging, race and ethnicity, and the labor force. Part II is focused on population processes, and includes chapters on fertility, infant and adult mortality, internal and international migration, and the demography of social stratification. Part III reflects the growing multidisciplinary nature of demography. Finally, Part IV recognizes the varied practical applications of demographic perspectives and data to national and global issues and problems.
