Demography and computer simulation in historic village population reconstruction

Area of Science:

• Demographic Anthropology
• Computational Social Science

Background:

• Challenges in analyzing single community populations include small datasets and incomplete vital event registration.
• Traditional demographic methods face limitations with sparse historical data common in anthropological studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a computational approach for analyzing demographic trends in small populations.
• To integrate community demography principles with computer simulation for robust data analysis.
• To address data limitations in anthropological investigations of community demographics.

Main Methods:

• Incorporation of community demography principles with computer simulation methodology.
• Validation of internal data consistency using simulated demographic models.
• Application of the approach to a specific case study population.

Main Results:

• The computer simulation approach successfully validates internal consistency of demographic data.
• The method allows for the determination of demographic secular trends from limited anthropological data.
• Demonstrated feasibility on a 1978 dataset from Old Crow Village, Yukon Territory.

Conclusions:

• Computational simulation offers a viable solution to data limitations in demographic anthropology.
• The proposed methodology enhances the analysis of historical demographic trends in small communities.
• This approach provides a framework for more accurate population studies in anthropological research.