| Summary: | Yes === 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. === University of Sheffield Early Career Researcher Scheme by a grant awarded to ECA in 2014-15.
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