MN we went through this many times. And you know I feel people's immunity was much better in the 1500s then it is now. Today we don't rely much on immunity we rely on sterilization, medications, doctors and hospitals all of which were non existent in the 1500s. I am sure most of us, including myself has had something that would have killed us. Even an abscessed tooth could kill you in the 1500s. The flu, measles, and forget infections which killed most of those people from being speared or just severely cutting themselves while hunting for dinner.Explain then, how the life expectancy (for humans) in 1500 was 35-40 years and now its double that? Likewise, the extinction of the dinosaurs, etc was 'Mother Nature'.
I had an uncle that died from being run over by a horse and buggy. The accident didn't kill him, it was lockjaw or what we call today tetanus. Antibiotics would have saved him today.
They got poisoned from water and stung from insects. Some of the Pharaohs who were well taken care of lived into their 90s and that was 2,000 years ago.
When we had whaling ships 200 years ago they used to bring many more people then needed because some of them would die while killing whales.
Their lives were not spent sitting at computers and going to supermarkets for dinner. Life then was very dangerous. Thats why people died.
If you took a modern human and put him in the 1500s he probably wouldn't live a week. Our immunity just isn't up to it.
Eating raw food and putrid water did a lot of people in.