What was the life expectancy during biblical times?

Answer 1

Since the emergence of human civilization (generally, with the advent of writing), average human life expectancy has hovered in the high 20s-30 year range. In civilizations with high levels of sanitation (or, in nomadic societies where it was less of a concern), life expectancy was a bit over 30.

So, for typical societies in Old Testament time periods, 28 would be reasonable. For New Testament societies, a bit older (perhaps 30 or so) would be reasonable.

One reason life expectancy was so low is that infant mortality was very high. If one discounts deaths in infants (i.e. death before the 1st birthday) from life expectancy calculations, increase the above numbers by as much as 10 years.