Comment by natebc
2 days ago
when humans were still primarily subjected to natural selection the life expectancy likely wouldn't have allowed for many grandfathers.
2 days ago
when humans were still primarily subjected to natural selection the life expectancy likely wouldn't have allowed for many grandfathers.
You only have to live to your 40s to become a grandparent in natural conditions, and your chances of living to at least your 50s have always been pretty good conditional on living long enough to reproduce at all.
Your 40s? A man could pretty easily be a grandfather at 26-28, possibly less.
Perhaps less common but 30s would probably be more likely.
Iirc, historically, if you made it to 10 years of age, most humans make it to 60
Medieval burial grounds, when examined by anthropologists, do contain some people over 60, but the majority of adults buried there died earlier, typically in the 45-55 bracket.
It wasn't just disease, but also wars and famines. And in women, deaths during childbirth, which cluster in the 20-35 bracket.
Cardinals of the Church, who led peaceful lives, didn't give birth and never went hungry, lived into their late 60s and early 70s even during the Middle Ages. But an average peasant wouldn't.