Life, Death, and Burial of Children on the North Coast of Peru

This chapter examines bioarchaeological data funerary patterns, and other contextual data derived from a sample of nearly 900 subadults who lived and died in the Lambayeque region of Peru's north coast from A.D. 900 to 1750. Paralleling various ethnohistoric perspectives, stark paleodemographic under-representation of the young in cemeteries and the preference for children as blood sacrifice victims points to the possibility that late pre-Hispanic Lambayeque childhoods involved meanings, symbolisms, and identities radically different from that of adults. Pre-Hispanic childhood may have been a liminal state, bridging supernatural and human realms. Following the Spanish conquest, indigenous experiences of childhood changed radically. Multiple skeletal indicators show that, when compared to pre-Hispanic children, many Colonial children bore much greater health burdens. Practices of childcare also changed, as millennia-old cradle boarding practices ceased rapidly in some areas. Alterations of childcare and inclusion of children into Colonial cemeteries indicates distinct changes in the cultural perception of childhood. However, the differential mortuary treatment of various children suggests that the young were still somehow distinct, as probably conceptualized in a hybrid Euro-Andean framework into the mid-18th century.

Children of the Revolution

The Industrial Revolution in England during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries resulted in rapid urbanisation and profound socio-economic change. Health inequalities between both rich and poor as well as urban and rural dwellers during this period intensified, as evidenced by contemporary descriptions of the wretched physical appearance of the urban working classes. Recent excavations of skeletal assemblages from this period provide a unique opportunity to explore the direct physiological impact of industrialisation. Childhood growth and morbidity is multidimensional in aetiology, but results demonstrate that metabolic diseases were rife and that skeletal growth and development were adversely affected. In this chapter, the effects of the developmental plasticity and the inter-generational origins of growth deficits are also considered. These findings have been integrated with contemporaneous historical accounts in order to provide a more nuanced interpretation of childhood life and death during this period.

Exploring Linear Enamel Hypoplasia as an Embodied Product of Childhood Stress in Late/Final Jomon Period Foragers Using Incremental Microstructures of Enamel

Childhood is an ecologically and socially mediated component of life history. Among prehistoric foragers from the Late/Final Jomon period (3400 to 2300 BP), socially visible identities associated with childhood begin at approximately 2.0 years, while ecologically identifiable childhood begins at approximately 3.5 years. Incremental microstructures of enamel were evaluated for evidence of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH), and age-at-defect formation was estimated in the dental remains of these individuals. Interquartile ranges for age-at-defect formation were between 2.8 and 4.1 years, while 90% confidence intervals were between 2.1 and 4.8 years. The number of LEH formed during these ages was, however, neutral with respect to mortality. These results argue that the transition from infancy to childhood was a period for increased growth disruption among these prehistoric foragers, although these disruptions did not influence mortality patterns. These findings suggest that the stress experienced during the infancy/childhood transition was incorporated into the Jomon physiological system in such a way that it did not diminish energetic investments into surviving future stress events.

Biocultural Influences of Total versus Exclusive Breastfeeding

In chapter 2, Pearson uses stable isotope data from Europe and Asia to construct breastfeeding and weaning trends of the past 10,000 years. Human breastfeeding is a complex process that is biologically and culturally mediated. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, contemporary newborn infants should be exclusively breastfed (EBF) with maternal milk (or with formula that has nutritional equivalence) from birth to four to -six months. Weaning begins when breast milk is slowly replaced with solid food until the infant’s diet is primarily based on elements of the adult’s diet. There are no recommendations concerning the optimal duration of total breastfeeding (TBF), suggesting that the weaning process, including the weaning food employed, can be dictated by the cultural demands and constructs within the caregiver’s community; this allows mothers and weaning infants to act as agents in the weaning process. Here, stable isotope analysis of carbon (δ‎13C) and nitrogen (δ‎15N) isotope data from twenty-two archaeological sites dated to the last 10,000 years are compared to reveal biocultural patterns in the nature and timing of infant weaning practices. The central questions are: To what extent is TBF driven by societal structure and/or individual agency, and is EBF more fixed biologically?

Introduction

This introduction begins with a review of bioarchaeological studies of children and childhood in the past in order to contextualize the advances that have been made in recent decades and also to outline theoretical shortcomings in these studies. This chapter then proceeds with an argument for further integration of biological and social streams of research in order to produce a more holistic bioarchaeology of children. Life course theory, interdisciplinary approaches, and an accounting of developmental plasticity are central to this vision. The chapter concludes with detailed summaries and contextualization of the remaining chapters in the volume.

Bioarchaeological Analyses of Children and Childhood from the Kellis 2 Cemetery, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt

Infancy and childhood have long been recognized as critical periods of increased physiological stress, morbidity, and mortality, and they have therefore been the focus of much research in bioarchaeological investigations in recent years. The Kellis 2 cemetery (c. 100–360 AD) in the Dakhleh Oasis of Egypt provides a unique opportunity to reconstruct the lives, experiences, and deaths of infants and children using a multi-modal approach. This chapter emphasizes the necessity of addressing issues of children’s lives and mortality directly through analyses of their physical remains. In addition, melding analyses of the body with the mortuary treatment, the prevalence of skeletal stress indicators and disease, the data on nutrition and diet, and the patterns of seasonal mortality allows for a more nuanced interpretation of childhood experiences in antiquity.

Dietary Histories

Chapter 8 reviews some of the stable isotope analysis studies of human skeletal remains that have taken a life course approach to understand childhood dietary practices in relation to adult dietary practices and concludes with a bioarchaeological case study from the Muisca of northern South America, in present-day Colombia. Archaeological dietary studies continue to contribute new understandings to human food practices and the layers of biological and social meaning that accompany that information, including evidence of the role of food in the socialization of children, gendered food differentiation, and the social relationships that become evidenced through repetitive food consumption practices. For dietary studies, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotope analyses are used.

Human Transitions

The analysis of cortical and trabecular bone development morphology offers a lens through which general biological processes of skeletal ontogeny can be viewed. These, in turn, establish a foundation upon which biocultural reconstructions of childhood can proceed. In this chapter, the authors draw on skeletal data generated by their systematic cortical and trabecular bone research agenda from a Norris Farms’ archaeological skeletal collection using high resolution microCT imaging combined with new, age-segmented, gait data from extant children. The age-related changes in bone structure, geometry, and architecture are linked to the development of biomechanical competence over the course of three significant transitions in a human’s life course. This chapter identifies transitions and variations in human skeletal biology, skeletal morphology, and bipedal gait as dynamic records of development. These types of ontogenetic studies provide empirical data, which function as a portal to address fundamental issues of interest to anthropologists. Examples of the types of anthropological interests include, but are not limited to, reconstructing past health and behavior; understanding the dynamics of bone growth, size, and shape; interpreting skeletal variation; and providing insight into the fossil record.

The Bioarchaeology of Childhood

Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase of research in the study of children and childhood in the past from anthropological, archaeological, and bioarchaeological perspectives. Despite recent research and theoretical developments, the advancement of research into childhood in the past continues to be somewhat hampered by the disparate theoretical approaches that are applied. This chapter reviews both the development of the bioarchaeological study of childhood and the important theoretical issues – including age, gender, and biocultural approaches – and offers suggestions for the development of approaches that “speak” between the different theoretical perspectives in the study of childhood in the past. Suggested future research directions include the integration of biological aspects into the social life course approach, by incorporating aspects of the biologically underpinned life history theoretical approach. Another imperative is to critically evaluate the attribution and meaning of “agency” in the bioarchaeology of childhood.

Biocultural and Bioarchaeological Approaches to Infant and Young Child Feeding in the Past

Understanding infant and child feeding and its relationship to child health is a key part of bioarchaeological investigations into children and childhood in the past. Aside from old age, infancy and childhood is the most vulnerable and dependent period of the life course. Infant and child feeding practices—including breastfeeding, non-breast milk substitutes, and weaning—can profoundly affect child growth and development and may have life or death consequences. Studies of infant and child feeding, moreover, give us a view to cross-cultural and temporal variation in practices and attitudes towards children. This chapter reviews anthropological studies of infant–child feeding and health from both past and present. Despite the evolutionary and biological underpinnings of infant and child feeding, the influence of environmental, social, and cultural factors on its diversity underscores the importance of using a biocultural framework.