*Women often had numerous children and these successive pregnancies could be fatal. However for those interested in getting a closer look of an older adult in ancient Egypt there is a head of an old man (UC 16452) in black granite (pictured) at the Petrie Museum. This is the reason nearly all persons are depicted as young adults and could explain why there is little art showing older adults. Manuscripts for good health include recommendations such as remove grey hairs and cosmetic prescriptions for face and skin. Youthfulness was the idealised norm, representing eternity. However we do know that ancient Egyptians were as concerned about their appearance as we are. Another example is a small number of documents which refer to a ‘wise woman’ who could assist in supernatural ways with unsolved cases although it is unclear if she was any special age.Īlthough estimated life expectancy was just over 30 years, it’s hard to say whether a 30-year-old person in ancient Egypt had wrinkles similar to many older people today. Very briefly, in Instruction of Ptahhotep, the king, who is old, is requested to retire and consents to this request but he also observes that the young need the old, for “none can be born wise”.
This literary work provides both a positive and the dramatised negative aspects of growing old. Older adults were seen as venerable advisers, which is reflected in Instruction of Ptahhotep. Egyptian writings indicate a social norm of respecting older people, but there was no special position in society for the elderly. In ancient Egypt elders were defined as older adults who were no longer able to contribute labour. Secondary evidence of ageing includes legal documents where they sometimes have referred to the person as ‘aged’. Occasionally the age at death can be found as an inscription part of the mummy label attached to the bodies but many bodies to which the labels were attached have not survived or not been recorded. There are few written and visual sources that refer to age. Human remains in the form of skeletal remains and mummified bodies (that would be wealthier Egyptians) are primary sources used to calculate age and life-expectancy. Nowadays we routinely collect mortality data making it easy to estimate life expectancy but how do we find out about life expectancy of ancient Egyptians? This can be compared to today’s life expectancy of 83 years for women and 79 years for men in the UK. Most ancient Egyptians were unlikely to live beyond 40 years of age and, for example, King Tutankhamun died at the age of about 18 years.
However those who survived childhood had a life expectancy of 30 years for women* and 34 years for men. Very high infant death rates due to high risks of infections resulted in an average age at death of 19 years. People in ancient Egypt did not grow very old.
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