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- Convenors:
-
Sian Halcrow
(University of Otago)
Mary Lewis (University of Reading)
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- Track:
- Life and Death
- Location:
- Roscoe 2.10
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 6 August, -, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The bioarchaeology of infants and children is increasingly becoming recognised as a useful means to investigate physical and social life in the past. This session will explore the current status of the bioarchaeological investigation of children from sites all over the world.
Long Abstract:
Although the health of infants and children is a sensitive barometer of population health, they were often discounted in archaeological research. There was a perception that their bones do not survive well in the ground, and that they are consistently under-represented in the archaeological record. In recent years attitudes have begun to change and this session aims to explore the current status of the bioarchaeology of children. Child skeletons provide a wealth of information on their physical and social life, from their growth and development, diet and age at death, to the cultural and economic factors that affect their nutrition and expose them to trauma and disease at different stages of their lives. The ways in which children are buried are also very indicative of cultural aspects of a society, including social age and gender structures. Papers within this session explore aspects of infant and child bioarchaeology with the aim to increase awareness of the importance of examining these remains from sites all over the world, and some of the challenges that are faced.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 6 August, 2013, -Paper short abstract:
This paper draws on collated osteological data from medieval England to examine what we can currently infer about the nature of child health in the past. The limitations and potentials of child skeletal remains in palaeopathology are explored, and future directions discussed.
Paper long abstract:
The study of pathology in non-adult skeletal remains from Britain was rare before the mid-90s. Today, we have a greater understanding of the nature, expression and types of trauma and disease that can be identified on child skeletons. However, we are only just beginning to collate these data to build a picture of overall child health within any one period. This paper focuses on the study of child remains from Medieval England, drawing on published and unpublished pathological cases, as well as attempting to provide an overview of what we can infer about what it was like to be a child living in medieval England, from their ages at death, diet, exposure to infectious diseases and the impact of their working lives on their health and survival.
This research forms part of the 'Adolescence, Migration and Health in Medieval England' research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Paper short abstract:
Double infant burials occurred at the site of Khok Phanom Di during a phase associated with immigration and some evidence of early agricultural practices. A study of their stratigraphic context and relative ages led to the interpretation that these were twins.
Paper long abstract:
This paper presents an extremely rare finding of at least two and possibly four twin burials from the prehistoric site of Khok Phanom Di in Southeast Thailand (4100-3500 BP). We outline a straightforward biological and archaeological methodological approach for identification of twin (or other multiple birth) burials and a social theoretical framework to interpret twin mortuary treatment. The consideration of these twin burials within a theoretical framework, using bioarchaeological evidence including the infant mortality profile, mortuary ritual and information from cross-cultural ethnographic studies of twinning, advances knowledge of concepts of personhood and social identity (age) of infants in this past population.
Paper short abstract:
The archaeological funerary context provides a rich source of evidence for studying childhood in the past through the integration of skeletal and cultural evidence. This study adopts a life course approach to explore the different ways in which childhood may have been perceived in the past and the potential biological consequences as indicated by skeletal evidence for health.
Paper long abstract:
Funerary remains have proven to be a particularly rich source of information for accessing past social identities. The archaeological funerary arena is an almost unique context because of the association it provides between the biological remains of past peoples and their material culture. This enables one to analyse skeletal remains for indicators of social and physical environment and situate these findings within a cultural milieu. Many skeletal indicators of poor health in childhood (e.g. cribra orbitalia, growth retardation) have multiple and overlapping causes and can only be meaningfully interpreted when properly contextualised. Likewise, the material culture associated with graves can only achieve its full interpretive potential when examined in relation to the remains of those interred. This study adopts a life course approach to explore the different ways in which childhood may have been perceived in the past, the demarcation of life stages, and the potential biological effects of these perceptions as indicated in the funerary domain. A case study from late Roman Britain has been used to highlight the potentials and limitations of this theoretical approach for accessing past childhood.
Paper short abstract:
Is it possible to identify maturation events that correspond with the changes of puberty? The timing of puberty can be influenced by environmental factors, and analysing these indicators among archaeological populations can provide an insight into the progress of puberty in the past.
Paper long abstract:
Bioarchaeologists have often struggled to identify where the boundary between childhood and adulthood fell in past societies, a threshold which is both a biological and a social construct. In societies where date of birth was rarely formally recorded, the perception of individuals as children or adults was inevitably dependent on the physical process of puberty, but this is a subject that has received little attention to date in bioarchaeology. Using modern data, however, it is possible to identify specific dental and skeletal maturation events that closely correspond with the external changes of puberty, such as the adolescent growth spurt and the start of menstruation. The speed and timing of puberty has been shown to be influenced by environmental factors such as nutrition, exposure to infection, stress and physical labour. Analysing these indicators alongside chronological age in archaeological populations can therefore provide an insight into the progress of puberty in past societies, and the possible environmental and social factors that may have affected this maturation process. These techniques have been applied for the first time to a group of large cemetery sites from medieval England, to try to shed light on the experience of adolescence in this period.
This research forms part of the 'Adolescence, Migration and Health in Medieval England' research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Paper short abstract:
As a burgeoning field of research potential, the bioarchaeology of children in Iceland also has the power to inform current archaeological practice.
Paper long abstract:
As a young discipline in Iceland, bioarchaeology has at times relied upon and, conversely, refuted standing assumptions of the island nation's past. Infants and children are a relatively well-represented proportion of the archaeological record and a growing body of evidence from diverse sites such as Skeljastaðir, Skriðuklaustur, Hofstaðir, Keldudalur, and Skálholt indicates that the young were an integral, valued part of medieval society. Children shared many of the same experiences as adults in life and treatment in death, as burial patterns indicate. Case studies and field reports continue to guide research practice. However, curation practices and treatment of these remains post-excavation can greatly impact upon their preservation and research potential. With a review of current practice, highlighting the unique nature of the growing collection in Iceland, key points regarding the collection and its relevance from a research perspective are informative of undiscovered aspects of Icelandic archaeology.
Paper short abstract:
The paper will discuss the palaeopathological findings from 427 juveniles recovered from the Medieval burial ground at Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal. The data will be scrutinised for information about the health of these individuals and will be compared to that from contemporary Medieval populations.
Paper long abstract:
Excavations at the Medieval cemetery of Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal, Ireland, uncovered the skeletons of some 1300 individuals, 427 of which were those of juveniles. Children of all ages were present from premature babies to older teenagers and the assemblage represents one of the largest collections of juvenile remains to have been discovered in a consecrated burial ground in Ireland. Numerous palaeopathological lesions were identified, including developmental defects, infections and trauma as well as signs of malnutrition and physiological stress during childhood in the form of cribra orbitalia, enamel hypoplasia, stunted growth and possible evidence for scurvy and rickets. Two adults displayed evidence for the rare developmental condition multiple osteochondromas which would have first manifested during young childhood. The information will be scrutinised to see what insights can be gained concerning the health and day-to-day existence of these individuals. An attempt will be made to investigate the potential nature of care invested in very ill children. The findings will also be compared to those derived from contemporary Medieval populations.
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to identify the experience and well-being of children at the periphery of the Roman Empire by combining evidence of burial practices with an osteological assessment of skeletal stress markers, and isotopic evidence of childhood diet and weaning practices.
Paper long abstract:
While an increasing interest in the study of childhood in the Roman world has seen the focus of investigation begin to shift away from elite-centred sources to material evidence, the skeletal remains of the children themselves are still often neglected in multidisciplinary investigations of childhood in Antiquity. However, due to the greater sensitivity of the growing skeleton to physiological stress, the skeletal remains of children can provide direct evidence of both the lived social and physical environment, and offer a unique contribution to the understanding of the care they were afforded.
This paper presents an investigation of the health and care of the children of Roman London. While extensive excavation over the last two decades has uncovered substantial cemetery sites within and around the City, much of this evidence has yet to be subject to intensive analysis, and interpretations of living environments and population health are still rare. By combining evidence of burial practices with an osteological assessment of skeletal stress markers recognised for their ability to provide information on physiological stress (cribra orbitalia, enamel hypoplasia, periosteal new bone formation and dietary deficiency diseases), and isotopic evidence of childhood diet and weaning practices, this paper aims to identify the experience and well-being of children at the periphery of the Roman Empire.
Paper short abstract:
Stable isotope analysis of sequential increments of human dentine allows reconstruction of juvenile diet and physiology. These isotope profiles constitute a new approach to the study of maternal health and infant feeding in the past and enable comparison of surviving infants with those who died.
Paper long abstract:
Nutrition in utero and during the perinatal period has a huge impact on the morbidity and mortality of infants and the adults they become. In the absence of documentary evidence, the analysis and comparison of the light stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in the skeletal tissues of adult females and juveniles has been used to infer the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding within cemetery populations. These interpretations rely on the assumption, based on modern studies using tissues with a fast turnover such as hair and fingernail, that the isotope values in the bone collagen of a mother and her newborn child are the same. This model has been challenged by recent research demonstrating that mothers can have bone collagen δ15N and δ13C which differs significantly from their deceased infants. As archaeological bone samples are by definition taken from neonates and infants who have died, their isotope values may be affected by changes in the nitrogen balance as the result of ante-mortem stress or pathology. This study compares diachronic isotope profiles from the teeth of juveniles who died with those from survivors to investigate normal and abnormal, survivable and non-survivable, responses.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will explore patterns of dental wear in relation to age at death and burial status. The deciduous (primary) molar teeth of 142 late medieval skeletons were analysed, with results indicating a significant association between dental wear and both age and status.
Paper long abstract:
Rates of dental wear on the permanent dentition are often cited as a way of ageing adult skeletons and as a means of interpreting diet and status. However, the deciduous (primary) dentition appears to have received little exploration in these areas. This paper will discuss the results of a study on the dental wear patterns of 142 skeletons from the English late medieval priory cemeteries of SS Peter and Paul, Taunton, St Oswald, Gloucester, and St Gregory, Canterbury. The deciduous dentition tends to be completely erupted by two years of age, with the permanent teeth erupting no earlier than six years. If the teeth of an individual between these ages are firmly held in the jaw then it can be difficult to assign age, and dental wear may be of use. It is also postulated that if a discernable relationship between dental wear stage and burial location can be seen then this could reflect a difference in diet between those receiving higher or lower status burial. A new method for scoring dental wear stages was devised for use with deciduous molar teeth. No significant difference was seen for the rates of wear on the second deciduous molar, between the three sites, indicating that dental wear on this tooth may be of use as an age predictor. Dental wear stage did appear to be an indicator of status, with those individuals buried within church buildings showing less wear than those of a similar age from other burial locations.
Paper short abstract:
This paper uses subadult femur midshaft histology to examine different health and social outcomes of subsistence transition and environmental change in prehistory
Paper long abstract:
The second millennium B.C. was a period of significant social and environmental changes in prehistoric India. Population growth in the Deccan region of west-central India led to unsustainable agricultural practices in the first half of the Jorwe period (1400-700 B.C.). At the site of Inamgaon, agriculture was finally abandoned around 1000 B.C. and rates of skeletal emaciation increased as greater proportions of infants and children faltered in body mass index (body mass for stature). This paper correlates the evidence for growth faltering in measures of whole bone morphology with new evidence for growth derangement in the midshaft femur compact bone histology. The deposition of primary lamellar tissue at the periosteal surface and within the secondary osteons (BMU's) serve as a stratigraphic record of growth and growth disruption. When bone resorption and formation are decoupled due to disruptions in homeostasis, reversals in bone formation are visible as 'double zone' osteons and cement lines in circumferential lamellar tissue. Growth derangement is also observable in immature archaeological bone as a change in the expected distribution of porosity across the tissue and an increase in the total amount of porosity, accompanied by loss of cortical connections between resorption bays. In this paper, I will demonstrate the histological and macroscopic markers of growth disruption in immature remains from Inamgaon and clarify the specific biological impacts of significant environmental, social, and subsistence transition on the infants and children of Inamgaon.