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A Bayesian Approach to Ageing Perinatal Skeletal Material from Archaeological Sites: Implications for the Evidence for Infanticide in Roman-Britain

Gowland, R.L.; Chamberlain, A.T.

Authors

A.T. Chamberlain



Abstract

The skeletal remains of substantial numbers of perinatal human infants have been excavated from within a variety of archaeological contexts dating to the Romano-British period. It has been argued that the distribution of ages at death of these infants, which appears to exhibit a pronounced neonatal peak, provides evidence for infanticide. This study re-evaluates the osteological evidence for infanticide in Roman Britain by first identifying biases in traditional techniques for estimating the age of perinatal skeletons and then using a Bayesian procedure to reassess the ages at deaths of almost 400 infants from a number of Roman sites throughout England. We conclude that the apparent peak in neonatal mortality shown by earlier investigations is an artefact of regression-based age estimation. The distribution of ages at death in Romano-British infants is similar to a natural mortality profile.

Citation

Gowland, R., & Chamberlain, A. (2002). A Bayesian Approach to Ageing Perinatal Skeletal Material from Archaeological Sites: Implications for the Evidence for Infanticide in Roman-Britain. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29(6), 677-685. https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2001.0776

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jun 1, 2002
Deposit Date Jun 26, 2009
Journal Journal of Archaeological Science
Print ISSN 0305-4403
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 29
Issue 6
Pages 677-685
DOI https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2001.0776
Keywords Bayes' Theorum, Mortality, Roman, Infant.