The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. However, skeletal assessment of these young individuals has often concentrated on biological age and sex determination in support of theories of deliberate death and disposal 8 . Yet, skeletal analysis can reveal far more, both about the individuals and their mothers; detailed biological and pathological 9 assessment furthers our understanding of the complex ways morbidity, mortality and lifestyle factors within past communities affected these perinatal and infant individuals. Thus, this study examines the evidence for growth and health disruption through the analysis of 17 individuals from Piddington, and considers the implications for perinatal/infant and maternal health in this late Iron Age to early Romano-British society.This research aims to highlight the value of palaeopathological evidence, in conjunction with funerary and other contextual evidence, when interpreting perinatal and infant remains from archaeological contexts.
Research Context:Since 1979
(FIG. 1. Map of Piddington location)Assessment of the site plan shows that the burials all lie within the villa compound, with nine of the perinates/infants being within the main villa structure (FIG. 2). The burials are likely contemporary with 6 Gowland et al.