Cemetery Lab
Name: Vinay Katta
Explain: Examine the graph of the survivorship curves to answer the following
questions. (it’s the last tab in the spreadsheet)
1. Overall, how did the pre-1900 and post-1900 survivorship curves differ?
The pre-1900 group had an initially higher survivorship curve, but after roughly 70 years post 1900
survivorship curves slightly edged out the pre-1900.
2. Think about it: What might be some main health problems for people before 1900? (What have you seen
on TV or the movies from the western days or the 1800s?)
Probably dysentery, typhus, yellow fever, smallpox, cholera.
3. Overall, did the male and female survivorship curves differ in both time periods? If so, elaborate on how.
Pre 1900 females lived significantly longer than males in the same time period, but post 1900 it was
mostly the same.
4. In which time period were there more infant and child mortality/deaths (ages 1-15)? Hypothesize why
this is.
Surprisingly, there were more infant deaths post-1900s. This might be due to poor delivery practices
or obstetric education.
5. In which time period did women have a longer life expectancy than men? Hypothesize a reason for this.
Pre 1900s. This might be because of a great increase in childbirth in the 1900s, and an increase in
maternal mortality.
6. In which time period did more women die in their 20s and 30s? Hypothesize a reason for this.
Post-1900s. This could be again due to death associated with pregnancy or childbirth. Pneumonia and
influenza were also major causes of death for women in the 1900s, which could’ve been another factor.
7. Which time period had more old people? What societal and economic issues arise from this?
The pre 1900s had more old people. This would lead to a decrease in the working force, thereby
leading to declining productivity, higher labor costs,
Elaborate: Survivorship Curve Predictions
K.Schertz
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8. How could you use these curves to make judgments about environmental and health conditions in a
country? Discuss health care, vaccines, sanitation (like sewers and toilets), clean water, and nutrition.
If you noticed a higher mortality rate (lower survivorship) in women, then you could infer that there
could be poor delivery practices or obstetric education in that country. You could also make
judgments on that overall improvement of factors like health care, vaccines, sanitation, etc in the
overall increase of survivorship between time periods in the same country.
9. Think about it. If you used a time machine, visited a cemetery 100 years from now, and gathered data,
what do you think the survivorship curves would show? Would life expectancy increase or decrease?
Why?
I think that the survivorship curves would show an increased level of survivorship across the board compared
to our current levels. I would also expect life expectancy to increase as health care and other factors that affect
our lifespans improve over time.
Evaluate
10. Write a short paragraph describing how AND why the population dynamics of the United States
changed in the past 200 years. Use evidence from this lab.
Population dynamics of the US have changed dramatically between now and the late 1800s. Survivorship past
the age of 75 has increased by over 20%. However, the overall survivorship has decreased from the pre-1900s to
the post-1900s. This could be due to skewed data due to many factors (not all tombstones were added into the
spreadsheet, one group (Jemison 3) collected almost 90% of deaths between ages 0-4). This also could’ve been a
result of the uptick in pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrhea deaths, which accounted for a third of all deaths
during the 1900s. In conclusion, survivorship in the United States has changed immensely and due to a variety
of causes in the past 200 years.
K.Schertz
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