Childhood in History: Perceptions of Children in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds

Abstract

tigation of personhood of young children through an investigation of burial rites in an Iron Age (c. 900–450 BC) Italian cemetery. Using a range of markers such as age, gender, taphonomy, and mortuary treatment to gauge attitudes towards children during a period of increasing inequality and environmental stressors, the authors conclude that attribution of personhood was incremental with age, conditional, and not universal. Following the theme of age thresholds andmortuary inclusion as an indicator of social identity, Anna Serra’s chapter examined archaeological evidence from an Etruscan (c. 600–200 BC) necropolis. Like others in this time period, Serra finds that children are included in low numbers, indicating that their inclusion in mortuary ritual may have been selective. Hanna Ammar’s chapter departs from the theme of age thresholds and identity in funerary contexts, assessing iconographic depictions on Attic (c. 500–300 BC) miniature wine vessels called choes, used to celebrate children’s initiation to religious rites in ancient Greece. Ammar considers the imagery of choes, which frequently feature images of children at play, finding associations of gender and increasing age with the types of toys depicted. In the penultimate chapter of the book, Alexandra Syrogianni continues the Greek theme, discussing themedical basis for high infant mortality in ancient Greece and the risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth due to undernutrition among young women pursuing a fashionably slender figure. The final chapter, by Irene Mañas Romero and José Nicolás Saiz López, closes the volume with a chapter on the rites and rituals leading to and around pregnancy and birth in ancient Rome. Mañas Romero and Saiz López consider the range of social rituals and rites of passage around reproduction, from fertility charms designed to encourage conception or ensure a successful pregnancy to the rituals intended to guarantee the safe delivery of a healthy child. Ages and Abilities is varied in its range of themes and topical matter, covering a range of issues throughout childhood and the further lifecourse, from inferred status in life to status in death. The range of methods used is also diverse, covering osteological, historical, iconographic, ethnographic, learning curve data, and taphonomic methodologies to contribute to a larger understanding of the world inhabited by prehistoric children in Europe and the Near East, and their place in it. This addition of a methodologically diverse exploration of age-related social thresholds and the relationship between age and social status will be a welcome addition to an important topic.