Myths abound. In every school of thought on anything you can think of. But some myths are harder to get rid of than others:  convicts were sent to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread; Henry VIII had syphilis; etc. etc. The one I find is hardest to convince anyone is that people all died young in the distant past. 

I have posted about this before. The statistics, by their very nature, are skewed because infant mortality was very high in days gone by. And a lot more young men were killed in battles. And, of course, there was always a plague or two. But, there is overwhelming evidence that, in fact, people could and did live into their 70s and 80s – there just weren’t that many of them still around by that stage to do so.

I came across this really good article via Facebook. It sets the argument out well and worth a read.

History for Fantasy Writers: How Old Was Old? by E. L. Skip Knox

Enjoy!

Categories: myths

Tagged as: E. L. Skip Knox life expectancy in literature life expectancy in writing

Kerry A Waight - Author

A writer of historical fiction and paranormal stories.