before modern medicine, how did medieval people live to their 80s? How did they survive common conditions that could result in death like open wound infection, tooth infection, diseases, unhygienic food and water?
In: Biology
The vast majority didn’t. That’s the answer. Very few people made it to that age and it was mostly luck. Skill and toughness can get you through a lot, but when 30% of all adults are dying from TB, skill and toughness has nothing to do with that, it’s just a numbers game.
That’s also why the further back in time you go the more value and emphasis is placed on elders. Once upon a time there really was such a thing as “the village elder” that one old guy that is almost 90 and nobody else is even within decades of his age in the whole province. It was rare and special and he saw things with his own eyes that are like ancient legends to most living people.
It is fantastic that human life expectancy has grown so much over the last century and a half or so, but it does mean that elders are more a fact of life now rather than a rare and special thing.
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