This book is a wide-ranging archaeological description and analysis of infancy, the social constructions of infancy, and the practices of infant care and social reproduction through time and across space. The main themes are the ways in which infants have lived in and have been perceived by society, the burial of the infant dead, and the meanings of domestic infanticide and infant sacrifice. It examines infancy as a process with meanings varying between and within societies, and it addresses the relationships between infants and adults. The contradictions which lie at the heart of attitudes to infants, and the exclusion of neonates from communal life and communal burial, are recurrent themes. The whole is rounded off with a concluding chapter which aims to establish some general statements about past attitudes to infancy and the treatment of infants, whilst stressing the particularity and specificity of the various historical contexts which have been examined.

Children, Death and Burials assembles a panorama of studies with a focus on juvenile burials; the 16 papers have a wide geographic and temporal breadth and represent a range of methodological approaches. All have a similar objective in mind, however, namely to understand how children were treated in death by different cultures in the past; to gain insights concerning the roles of children of different ages in their respective societies and to find evidence of the nature of past adult–child relationships and interactions across the life course. The contextualisation and integration of the data collected, both in the field and in the laboratory, enables more nuanced understandings to be gained in relation to the experiences of the young in the past. A broad range of issues are addressed within the volume, including the inclusion/exclusion of children in particular burial environments and the impact of age in relation to the place of children in society. Child burials clearly embody identity and ‘the domestic child’, ‘the vulnerable child’, ‘the high status child’, ‘the cherished child’, ‘the potential child’, ‘the ritual child’ and the ‘political child’, and combinations thereof, are evident throughout the narratives. Investigation of the burial practices afforded to children is pivotal to enlightenment in relation to key facets of past life, including the emotional responses shown towards children during life and in death, as well as an understanding of their place within the social strata and ritual activities of their societies. An important new collection of papers by leading researchers in funerary archaeology, examining the particular treatment of juvenile burials in the past. In particular focuses on the expression of varying status and identity of children in the funerary archaeological record as a key to understanding the place of children in different societies.

Integrating social and cultural history with archaeological evidence and material culture, this first comprehensive study of infancy and earliest childhood encompasses the whole Roman Empire and explores the particular historical circumstances into which children were born and the role and significance of the youngest within the family and society.

Children, Death and Burials assembles a panorama of studies with a focus on juvenile burials; the 16 papers have a wide geographic and temporal breadth and represent a range of methodological approaches. All have a similar objective in mind, however, namely to understand how children were treated in death by different cultures in the past; to gain insights concerning the roles of children of different ages in their respective societies and to find evidence of the nature of past adult–child relationships and interactions across the life course. The contextualisation and integration of the data collected, both in the field and in the laboratory, enables more nuanced understandings to be gained in relation to the experiences of the young in the past. A broad range of issues are addressed within the volume, including the inclusion/exclusion of children in particular burial environments and the impact of age in relation to the place of children in society. Child burials clearly embody identity and ‘the domestic child’, ‘the vulnerable child’, ‘the high status child’, ‘the cherished child’, ‘the potential child’, ‘the ritual child’ and the ‘political child’, and combinations thereof, are evident throughout the narratives. Investigation of the burial practices afforded to children is pivotal to enlightenment in relation to key facets of past life, including the emotional responses shown towards children during life and in death, as well as an understanding of their place within the social strata and ritual activities of their societies. An important new collection of papers by leading researchers in funerary archaeology, examining the particular treatment of juvenile burials in the past. In particular focuses on the expression of varying status and identity of children in the funerary archaeological record as a key to understanding the place of children in different societies.

Anthropologist, archaeologists, and art historians detail their approaches to studying gender in burial practices and in other mortuary contexts. They compare European and American traditions in this field, outline methods for analyzing gender in cultures of varying complexity and with different levels of documentation, and describe some of the successes of such efforts. Consideration is given to the relationships between gender, ideology, power, signification, and the interpretation of evidence. c. Book News Inc.

The first edition of The Archaeology of Childhood has been credited by many as launching an entire new area of scholarship in archaeology. This second edition, published 17 years later, retains the first edition’s emphasis on combining sources from archaeology, anthropology, environmental studies, psychology, and sociology, to create a rich interdisciplinary basis for studying childhood across time and across cultures. The second edition is updated with archaeological studies about childhood that have been published in the past 20 years, and readers will see that the archaeology of childhood is a field with a relatively short history but a rich and varied scholarship. Archaeologists study children in the very recent past, as well as Neanderthal and early modern human children, and every period in between. These studies use artifacts, the built environment, spatial analyses, the artistic representations, skeletal remains, and mortuary assemblages to illuminate the lives of children, their families, and communities. The book’s eight chapters cover: 1: The Archaeology of Childhood in Context 2: Childhood in Archaeology: Themes, Terms, and Foundations 3: The Cultural Creation of Childhood: The Idea of Socialization 4: Socialization and the Material Culture of Childhood 5: Socialization, Behavior, and the Spaces and Places of Childhood 6: Socialization, Symbols, and Artistic Representations of Children 7: Socialization, Childhood, and Mortuary Remains 8: Looking Back and Moving Forward This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the major themes in the archaeological study of childhood and introduces the concept of socialization as a way of framing archaeological scholarship on children. Case studies and examples from around the globe are included, and the author’s expertise on childhood in 18th-20th century America is drawn upon to provide more familiar examples for readers allowing them to question their own assumptions and understandings of what it means to be a child. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and learning activities.