Distributions of Age at Death from Roman Epitaph Inscriptions in North Africa

Abstract

Thousands of inscriptions of age at death from Roman epitaphs in North Africa are statistically analyzed. The Gompertz distribution is used to estimate survivor functions. The smoothed distributions are classified according to the estimation results. Similarities and differences can be detected more easily. Parameters such as mean, mode, skewness, and kurtosis are calculated. Cluster analysis provides three typical distributions. The analysis of the force of mortality function of the three clusters shows that the epigraphic sample is not representative of the mortality in North Africa. The results are compared with data from epitaphs from the European provinces. Africa is quite different. The general mortality level is much lower. The African cluster is much more homogeneous than the European cluster. The distributions are determined by three factors: mortality levels, commemorative processes, and population growth rates.