Juvenile mortality in Southern African archaeological contexts

Abstract

Estimates of age at death that are both accurate and precise can provide information about the patterns and causes of premature mortality in both Later Stone Age and Iron Age archaeology. Assuming a link between subsistence and health, differences in patterns of childhood growth are hypothesized. The best source of this information comes from the formation of tooth crowns and roots. Through the study of femur shafts from Later StoneAge juvenile skeletons, it can be demon strated that linear growth was normal in tempo. The study offemora from a smaller number of Iron Age juvenile skeletons suggests that growth in this group did notfollow a normal pattern, perhaps because prolonged ill health preceded death. Growth of Iron Age children who failed to reach adulthood appears to be variable but slow and this may provide insights into the Iron Age biosocial environment. Because of the demonstrated correlation between dental development and femur shaft length, the Later Stone Age juvenile long bone lengths provided here can be used in Later Stone Age contexts to estimate chronological age at death if dental information is unavailable. This approach should not be used in Iron Age contexts, since such an approach is likely to yield biased (under-aged) estimates of age at death.