Fertility Studies in Contemporary Populations as Direct References for Paleodemographic Studies

The constraints on paleodemographic work, such as collecting data on the fertility of ancient societies, have prompted the development of methodological strategies to obtain this information with some degree of accuracy. In this study, we contrast two types of methodologies to obtain data on fertility: paleodemographic, based on the bioarchaeological analysis of a pre-Hispanic Maya skeletic series, utilizing Weiss's model, and modern demographic methodology applied to census data from Quintana Roo, used to calculate various fertility indicators. The results show that the statistical method we have used in our research makes it possible to have a reliable approach to the levels of fertility and mortality these groups might have had in the past, since the paleodemographic estimates have values consistent with the information obtained in the censuses, with a calculation of four to six children for the pre-Hispanic Maya group of Chac Mool.