Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
Demography is defined as the study of population characteristics, such as age structure, sex ratio, and growth rate and also seeks to explain the underlying processes responsible for these characteristics. Populations change with time through the combined effects of births/deaths and immigration/emigration. Although all four of these processes are extremely important, this project focuses on births, survival, and deaths. We collected and analyzed records of age at death that have been preserved in the cemeteries of Tangier Island, Virginia and Smith Island, Maryland. Following our experiences on these Chesapeake islands, we developed hypotheses and used survivorship curves to focus on age specific survivorship for human populations that lived at different times in the past. Our analyses allowed us to learn much about patterns of survival and death today and in the past.
Recommended Citation
Arauz Tellez, Ebony; Ellis, Lucy; Griffith, Rachel M.; Marple, Abigail; Rhoten, Melissa C.; and Fink, Mark, "Demographic Analysis of the Human Communities of Tangier and Smith Islands: Part I" (2023). Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry. 187.
https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/rci_fall/187
