Objective

This study tests the hypothesis that industrial development and urbanization negatively impacted the living circumstances and health of inhabitants.

Materials

The materials used in this study included 881 human skeletons aged 15 years and older from the Medieval (1185–1573), Edo (1603–1867), and Meiji (1868–1912) periods. The Meiji period corresponds to the period when the industrial revolution spread in Japan.

Methods

Age at death and sex were estimated for each skeleton, and demographic profiles of the Medieval, Edo, and Meiji periods were compared.

Results

The rate of young deaths was higher in the Meiji period than in preceding periods, and urban inhabitants had a higher proportion of young deaths than rural inhabitants in the Edo period.

Conclusions

The results suggest that industrial development and urbanization led to a decline in human health.

Limitations

The results produced through Bayesian methods are likely tentative, because they vary according to the priors and reference sample.

Significance

Paleodemographic approaches are a useful method to elucidate the impact of industrialization and urbanization on health.

Suggestions for further research

Decline of health associated with industrialization should be examined combining paleopathological and paleodemographic methods.

中文翻译：

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前现代日本工业发展和城市化对人类生活的影响：来自古人口学的观点

客观的

本研究检验了工业发展和城市化对居民的生活环境和健康产生负面影响的假设。

材料

本研究中使用的材料包括中世纪 (1185–1573)、江户 (1603–1867) 和明治 (1868–1912) 时期的 881 具 15 岁及以上的人类骨骼。明治时期对应于日本工业革命蔓延的时期。

方法

估计每个骨骼的死亡年龄和性别，并比较中世纪、江户和明治时期的人口统计资料。

结果

明治时期的青年死亡率高于前几个时期，江户时期城市居民的青年死亡率高于农村居民。

结论

结果表明，工业发展和城市化导致人类健康下降。

限制

通过贝叶斯方法产生的结果可能是暂时的，因为它们根据先验和参考样本而变化。

意义

古人口学方法是阐明工业化和城市化对健康影响的有用方法。

进一步研究的建议

应结合古病理学和古人口学方法检查与工业化相关的健康下降。