Hacker News Reader

Comment by onetimeusename | Hacker News Reader

I can't answer to all of those points but, at least in Post-Roman Britain, life expectancy increased after the fall of the Roman Empire.[1]

[1]: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/114150...

View on HN

I would be skeptical about attributing too much to a newspaper report about an unpublished conference presentation, particularly as the reported increase is only 2 years (with no quoted uncertainties).

From this review article about post-Roman Britain: (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1478-0542...)

"There is just no alternative to the conclusion that urban life ceased in most places by the mid‐fifth century, doomed by the virtual cessation of market activity, a climatic downturn which arguably destroyed the capacity of agriculture to deliver a reliable surplus, the collapse of state funding of officialdom and the soldiery, and the impact on trade of an era of barbarian raiding and internecine warfare."

Of course, since historically urban life expectancy has tended to be less than small-town and rural life expectancy, it's even possible that the de-urbanization of Britain did lead to a slight increase in life expectancy.

It's good to be cautious. (It would be interesting to find out if the author did eventually publish the work.) It's certainly plausible, as you point out, that while life expectancy was plummeting in Turin and Paris, it might have risen in Britain. We just have no written records from that time period — not even graffiti or runestones — adding to the uncertainty. More than All Creatures Great and Small this bare fact makes me think of Threads.

Interesting! I didn't know about this new research. Perhaps it will hold up! Thank you!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com