Death and burial of Roman children: the case of the Yasmina cemetery at Carthage-Part II, The archaeological evidence

Abstract

Roman social structure is complex and subtly nuanced and the place of children within it is distinct from that of adults. In Part I we situated children within the social fabric of Roman life, concentrating on demographics and on the art and literary testimonia concerning their status, stages of life, rituals and burials. Part II marshals some of the archaeological evidence about the death and burial of children and demonstrates how children were often buried in ways that were distinct from those for adults, either in form or location or both. This paper focuses on the evidence for children's burials in the Yasmina cemetery at Carthage, excavated by the University of Georgia, where children are segregated in a distinct area of the necropolis, and places that material within its wider archaeological context by looking at evidence from other Roman cemeteries in North Africa. Across the province, the conceptualization of children is frequently reflected in the burial practices accorded them, practices that sometimes appear to allude to the Punic heritage of the region. These differences in burial ritual illuminate the general cultural distinctions that shaped the Roman concept of the child.