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IX/1/2018
InterdIscIplInarIa archaeologIca
natural scIences In archaeology
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Book Reviews
Volume IX ● Issue 1/2018 ● Pages 97–98
Children, Death and Burial:
Archaeological Discourses.
(Archaeology of Childhood), 1
st
Edition
Eileen Murphy, Melie Le Roy (Eds.)
Oxbow Books 2017, ISBN 1785707159,
9781785707155, 240 pages (hardcover).
“Archaeological Approaches to the Burial
of Children”, which took place at the EAA
(European Association of Archaeologists)
in Glasgow in 2015. The book was
published in 2017 by Oxbow Books and
edited by Eileen Murphy (Senior Lecturer
in Archaeology at the School of Natural
and Built Environment, Queen’s University
Belfast) and Mélie Le Roy (Archaeologist
at Montpellier University).
The volume is structured chronologically
according to major archaeological periods.
The frst three contributions provide an
overview of the Neolithic in France (by
Mélie Le Roy), in Anatolia (by Belinda
Tibbetts), and in Sudan (by Emma Maines
et al.
). Further seven contributions present
investigations of the Eneolithic, Bronze
Age and Iron Age in Romania (by Catalin
Lazar
et al.
), Anatolia (by Jayne-Leigh
Thomas), Bulgaria (Kathleen McSweeney
and Krum Bacvarov), Greece (by Katerina
Kostanti
et al.
), Russia (by Natalia
Berseneva), Crete (by Nathalja Calliauw),
and again from Romania (by Valeriu Sîrbu
and Diana-Crina Dăvîncă). The last fve
papers present studies from Medieval and
early modern period. These are studies
from Britain (by Christine Cave and Mark
Oxenham), Denmark (by Jane Jark Jensen),
Britain (by Heidi Dawson-Hobbis), and
two from Ireland (by Eileen Murphy and
Jonny Geber).
There are two papers that impressed
me the most. The frst one is written by
Kathleen McSweeney and Kurm Bacvarov
and entitled: “Processed Babies: Early
Bronze Age Infant Burials from Bulgarian
Thrace” (p. 91, chap. 7), and the second
one by Jonny Geber, entitled: “Interring
the “Deserving” Child: The Archaeology
of the Deaths and Burials of Children
at the Kilkenny Workhouse during the
Great Famine in Ireland, 1845–1852” (p.
241, chap. 16). Kathleen McSweeney and
Kurm Bacvarov deal with funeral practice
of newborns in Bulgarian Thrace. In their
study, they describe a new practice that has
not been identifed until recently. Based
on neonatal bone disarticulation and the
presence of cut marks on bones they suggest
that babies were processed prior to fnal
deposition. If the authors are right in their
statements then it is really a very fascinating
fnding; however, extreme caution must be
paid to this interpretation. In cases of jar
inhumations, the disarticulation of bones
is very common, suggesting that the jars
collapsed after long enough time: when the
body had totally decomposed and soil had
allowed the joints to come apart (Hillson,
2009). Likewise, cut marks on bones can
never be absolutely confrmed without
proper investigation using scanning electron
microscope: all such fndings thus need
to be interpreted with attention. The other
author, Jonny Geber, presents his research
on the Great Irish Famine and its impact
on children living in union workhouses.
He brings new insight on the phenomenon
of union workhouses in Ireland, a subject
less known in Central Europe. J. Geber
describes the intramural burial ground
in Kilkenny Union Workhouse from the
Famine-period. This case study points out
two basic social behaviours during the
Famine. Firstly, despite the deep famine
crisis, bodies were treated with respect
and care. Secondly, high proportion of
the childrens’ remains reveal the reality
of incomplete and destroyed families in
workhouses. Once inside a workhouse,
families were split up, with each family
member going to his/her own section.
When children died, nobody cared where
they would be buried since their parents
were also dying from starvation, typhus
and other famine-related diseases. J. Geber
cites an emotional story that was recorded
as Famine folklore in northwestern Ireland.
The story reveals the trauma of losing a
child in the workhouse, later buried in the
workhouse burial ground away from the
local graveyard, and lost to local memory.
Children, Death and Burial: Archaeological
Discourses
is a collection of valuable
contributions put together by researchers
from all over Europe. The enthusiasm
of the authors for their topics is obvious
throughout the proceedings. More careful
proofreading of the map on page 5 could
have eliminated some confusion caused by
Osteoarchaeology of children has developed
over the past several years as a relatively new
subdiscipline within archaeology. The study
of childhood in the past has been considered
as a part of the archaeology of gender that
was formed by feminists in 1980’s (Baxter,
2005). Children structure adult lives,
infuence their options, their global view
of the word, and any interpretation of the
past that overlooks children is incomplete.
Children are not only people who learn to
be adults, but they form their own culture
within the majority of adult societies.
Children, Death and Burial: Archaeological
Discourses
is a collection of 15 contributions
regarding child burial practice from the
Neolithic to the early modern period of
Europe and Africa (Sudan). A total of
24 authors from several European countries
contributed to the book. The publication
is based on a day-long session titled:
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IANSA 2018 ● IX/1 ● 97–98
Book Reviews
98
mistaking Czech Republic and Slovakia
for Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, the
credibility of this book does not sufer from
this one oversight.
Anna Pankowská
References
BAXTER, J.E., 2005:
The Archaeology of
Childhood: Children, Gender, and Material
Culture (Gender and Archaeology).
Walnut
Creek, CA, USA: AltaMira Press.
HILLSON, S., 2009: The World’s Largest
Infant Cemetery and Its Potential for
Studying Growth and Development.
Hesperia
Supplements,
43, 137–154.