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Re: orion-list cemeteries



In a message dated 6/24/99 11:42:49 AM EST, dsuter@stmartin.edu writes:

<< Rick Strelan wrote:
 > 
 > Could the imbalance of males and females in cemeteries partly be accounted
 > for if, in fact, a widow left the area on the death of her spouse? I assume
 > most wives were [considerably] younger than their husbands.
 > 
 That assumption might need to be qualified by some research on marriage
 and the status of widows.  There's a significant body of literature out
 there, I believe, that would be relevant.
  >>
We do not know of course whether data on marriage of the fairly recent past 
may shed light on the problem, though cultural factors mentionned in the 
Torah regarding marriage, particularly wife inheritance, may be relevant.  
Wives were likely [considerably] younger than husbands at their first 
marriage. If they were inherited after the death of their husbands then  the 
males who became their husbands were likely to have been younger than the 
first husband, closer to the age of the woman then her first husband might 
have been, particularly if he was a younger brother of the deceased.
Greet Kershaw (Ret. Anthropologist, CSULB) 
For private reply, e-mail to Auke@aol.com
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