A multimethodology osteoarchaeological approach to reconstruct the Medieval infants and children´s health, diet, and growth

Abstract

Here, we present a multimethodological approach of a doctoral research, as a previous step for obtaining and analyzing data. Studies devoted to non-adult individuals from the past have been consolidated in Biological Anthropology and Archeology during the last two decades. Both disciplines study skeletal remains as direct evidence of their existence. In addition to their importance in society, they are very susceptible to environmental and historical/cultural changes. The aim of this PhD project is to delve into the living conditions (health, diet, and growth) of nonadult individuals from medieval communities in the Iberian Peninsula, studying the skeletal remains, with the ultimate goal of, whenever possible, approaching the infants and children social identity on these communities. As case study we propose a sample made up of 7 necropolises from two areas of the Iberian Peninsula: Northwest (Adro Vello, Santa María, San Bartolomé and A Capela do Pilar) and Central (Cadalso de los Vidrios, Uceda and Arroyo Lagunillas) Spain, with a total of 432 individuals, of all ages, non-adults and adults, with a chronological range from the 10th to the 15th centuries. Adult individuals (“surviving children”) are included in order to offer a more contextualized and complete view of childhood in these communities. The study phases we intend to develop are: 1) health/ stress: study of porotic lesions; 2) diet: reconstruction through multi-isotopic analyses; 3) growth: metric studies and spectroscopic characterization. The data obtained will be interpreted within the theoretical framework of the Archaeology of Infancy and Childhood.