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The role of infant life histories in the construction of identities in death: An incremental isotope study of dietary and physiological status among children afforded differential burial
Craig-Atkins, E. Towers, Jacqueline R. Beaumont, Julia
Craig-Atkins, E.
Towers, Jacqueline R.
Beaumont, Julia
Publication Date
2018-11
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© 2018 Wiley.
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Craig-Atkins E, Towers J and Beaumont J (2018) The role of infant life histories in the construction of identities in death: An incremental isotope study of dietary and physiological status among children afforded differential burial. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 167(3): 644-655, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23691. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
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openAccess
Accepted for publication
2018-07-12
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Abstract
Objectives
Isotope ratio analyses of dentine collagen were used to characterize short-term changes in
physiological status (both dietary status and biological stress) across the life course of
children afforded special funerary treatment.
Materials and Methods
Temporal sequences of δ15N and δ13C isotope profiles for incrementally-forming dentine
collagen were obtained from deciduous teeth of 86 children from four early-medieval English
cemeteries. Thirty-one were interred in child-specific burial clusters, and the remainder
alongside adults in other areas of the cemetery. Isotope profiles were categorized into four
distinct patterns of dietary and health status between the final prenatal months and death.
Results
Isotope profiles from individuals from the burial clusters were significantly less likely to reflect
weaning curves, suggesting distinctive breastfeeding and weaning experiences. This
relationship was not simply a factor of differential age at death between cohorts. There was
no association of burial location with stage of weaning at death, nor with isotopic evidence of
physiological stress at the end of life.
Discussion
This study is the first to identify a relationship between the extent of breastfeeding and the
provision of child-specific funerary rites. Limited breastfeeding may indicate the mother had
died during or soon after birth, or that either mother or child was unable to feed due to
illness. Children who were not breastfed will have experienced a significantly higher risk of
malnutrition, undernutrition and infection. These sickly and perhaps motherless children
received care to nourish them during early life, and were similarly provided with special
treatment in death.
Version
Accepted manuscript
Citation
Craig-Atkins E, Towers J and Beaumont J (2018) The role of infant life histories in the construction of identities in death: An incremental isotope study of dietary and physiological status among children afforded differential burial. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 167(3): 644-655.
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Article