Children’s burials from the early medieval Radom (Site 4): Anthropological considerations

Abstract

Although the study of prehistoric children’s burials is of great interest for historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists alike, many authors have pointed out the scarcity of anthropological research efforts in this area. However, this may be attributable not so much to limited preoccupation with children’s burials, as to objective difficulties. This report presents some anthropological considerations concerning the skeletal remains of children from early medieval Radom. The percentage of children’s burials in the studied site was determined to be lower than that found for other skeletal series from this period in history, which may be attributed to the fragility of children’s remains as well as to incomplete exploration of the burial ground. Still, it should be remembered that interdisciplinary analysis of even scant amounts of skeletal material may expand our knowledge about populations living not only decades, but millennia ago