Abstract
Around 8000 years ago, throughout the Neolithic world a new type of artefact appeared, small spoons masterly made from cattle bone, usually interpreted as tools, due to their intensive traces of use. Contrary to those interpretations, the small dimensions of spoons and presence of intensive traces of use led us to the assumption that they were used for feeding babies. In order to test that assumption we compared 2230 marks on three spoons from the Neolithic site of Grad-Starčevo in Serbia (5800−5450 cal BC) with 3151 primary teeth marks produced experimentally. This study has shown that some of the marks on spoons were made by primary teeth, which indicate their usage in feeding babies. The production of a new type of artefact to feed babies is probably related to the appearance of a new type of weaning food, and the abundance of spoons indicates that new baby gruels became an important innovation in prehistoric baby-care.
Highlights
One of the major turning points in human history was the process of Neolithization, which brought about important changes in the lifestyle of prehistoric people
The Neolithic Demographic Transition refers to the increase of fertility in farming communities in prehistory which made a dramatic impact on the demography of Neolithic populations [1]
In order to test the hypothesis that marks observed on Neolithic bone spoons are tooth marks made by children, we developed two main test criteria: 1. the marks found on Neolithic bone spoons need to correspond metrically and morphologically to the experimental marks we produced by deciduous teeth on cattle bones; 2. the marks found on spoons are specific to these types of artefacts and are different from marks we analysed on other classes of Neolithic bone tools that were not used in any activity involving biting and gnawing by children
Summary
One of the major turning points in human history was the process of Neolithization, which brought about important changes in the lifestyle of prehistoric people. The Neolithic Demographic Transition refers to the increase of fertility in farming communities in prehistory which made a dramatic impact on the demography of Neolithic populations [1]. The current assumption on the causes which enabled women have more children include several changes in maternal behavior: reduced mobility (increased sedentism), a shift towards consumption of higher calorie cereal food and a reduction of the length of lactation [2]. As a consequence of those changes, the increase in the number of babies resulted in a rapid and unprecedented population growth [3].
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