magwitch wrote:

Just get used to the fact that living to 80 or beyond is a fairly recent
prospect. In the middle ages one would be considered geriatric at 45.

That's a failure to interpret statistics correctly. The average life
expectancy in medieval England was 33. This does not mean that 45 year
olds were warn out dottards, it reflects the high infant mortality rate
and the high rate of death from communicable diseases.

If ne survided these then life expectancy was not much different from
today with individuals living to 89 years or more.

Archaeological dating of remains has also tended to grossly
underestimate the age of death.