Дитячі поховання з могильника Новий cередньосарматського часу (ранній період)

Abstract

The paper deals with child burials of cemetery Novyi of the Middle Sarmatian culture. Due to the representative source base of cemetery Novyi, it was possible to examine 44 child burials that were divided by age: up to a year; early childhood (1–3 years); first childhood (4–7 years); second childhood (8–12 years); adolescence (12–16 years). Thus, for children aged up to a year (infants), there is a rather high mortality which predominantly depended on natural selection. Infants were not buried separately, but only with women of different ages. Personal funeral equipment was not provided to children of such age. At the age of 1–3 years child mortality has significantly reduced. Children of this age were buried separately. Education of children aged 4–7 years has already had a strong gender attribute. The greatest indicators of child mortality are observed exactly at this age. In the case of a double burial, children were buried together with women. But for the first time a single case has been recorded when a child (presumably a girl) was buried along with a man. The funeral equipment is already very diverse. At the age of 8–12, children have already been actively involved in various household activities, but girls and boys were clearly separated both in everyday life and entertainment. Boys were trained to handle weapons. Mortality at this age is relatively small, but there were severe injuries of child skeletons which did not heal during life. The funeral equipment in terms of gender turned out to be rather not distinctive. Boys of adolescent age (8–12 years) had almost equal rights with men. In a single burial of an adolescent a complete set of weapons inherent to adult men was found.