Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia (Dec 2020)
La población altomedieval de Sta. María de Tejuela (Bozoó, Burgos). Notas paleodemográficas
Abstract
Se analizan los datos que proporciona el estudio antropológico y arqueológico del cementerio altomedieval de Santa María de Tejuela (Bozoó, Burgos) que pueden aportar alguna información sobre aspectos paleodemográficos. El número de individuos exhumados asciende a 182, aunque solo se ha podido asignar edad y sexo a 125 de ellos. El número de individuos infantiles y juveniles es reducido, lo que proporciona un índice de juventud muy bajo. Entre los adultos los resultados sobre la mortalidad son los propios de una población rural medieval que vivió bajo duras condiciones de vida, sobre todo las mujeres. La mayoría de enterramientos de adultos sugiere una población con una aparente baja fertilidad. ______________________________________________________________________________ This paper analyzes the data provided by the anthropological and archaeological study of the Santa María de Tejuela cemetery (Bozoó, Burgos), which may provide some information on paleodemographic aspects, bearing in mind their difficult and sometimes contradictory interpretation. The number of individuals determined from the skeletal remains amounts to 182. However, the number of skeletons with age and sex assigned is 125. This assignment has been carried out by a team of three researchers to minimize inter-observer bias in the application of the different methods utilized. Regarding the distribution by sex, including the three juvenile individuals, males account for the majority of individuals (56.7%) compared to females (43.3%). Among the latter, the majority died before reaching the age of 41 and no woman lived beyond 61 years. The number of children and youth burials is low in relation to that of adults, and the estimated youth index is very low (0.10) and significantly lower than that of other contemporary populations in the region. Non-adults show a very high mortality in the first year of life, somewhat lower in the following two years and with a significant drop from the third year on. The mortality results of adults are consistent with those of a medieval rural population, with low average life expectancy, especially among women. The paucity of infant and youth burials, which provides a mortality profile that does not follow the expected U-shape of pre-industrial populations, cannot be attributed exclusively to taphonomic or methodological factors. Everything points to a population with low fertility, in which there could have been emigrants who did not form families in the place, which could fit with the instability of life in a border area.
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