Perinatal Human Remains from Poggio Civitate (Murlo): A Preliminary Presentation

Abstract

Abstract Comprehensive analysis of faunal remains from the Etruscan settlement of Poggio Civitate was initiated in 2011. During the analysis of zoological materials collected in past and ongoing excavations, several human skeletal specimens were identified. Stratigraphically these bones are tied to the site’s Orientalizing period of architectural development. Analysis of the human assemblage, which to date includes 47 specimens, shows that the bones represent perinates who died around the time of birth. Furthermore, none of the remains come from archaeological contexts reflective of formal, ritualized disposition. Instead, the bones all derive from large deposits of animal and cultural debris, and most come from refuse deposits that are concentrated around areas of non-elite domestic and industrial activities. This emerging pattern suggests that during the seventh century B. C. E. mortuary behaviors surrounding perinatal death at Poggio Civitate were markedly different from those associated with older individuals. Rather than the easily observable, formal cemetery interment that was accorded to mature members of the community, perinates were disposed of in a private, informal manner that is archaeologically far less visible.