The Gendering of Children in the Early Bronze Age Cemetery at Mokrin

Black Swans and Archaeological Interpretation

“…Some researchers believe that to be the case, given that the majority of adult tombs where awls are placed are women's tombs (Castro et al 1993-1994, Lull et al 2004. The same has been suggested to hold true for other archaeological contexts, either in relation to awls (Weglian 2001) or needles (Rega 2000). Other researchers, however, disagree with the pervious idea, arguing that both boys and girls might have participated in the activities their mothers carried out, represented by such exclusive female funerary goods (Hamlin 2001).…”

Muerte e identidad femenina en el mundo argárico

“…Al haberse demostrado la tendencia estadísticamente significativa de su asociación con mujeres adultas, algunos investigadores han propuesto que las tumbas infantiles en que aparecen sean de niñas (Castro et al 1993-4;Lull et al 2004). Lo mismo se ha planteado para sexuar las tumbas infantiles en las que aparecen elementos exclusivos de mujeres en otros lugares arqueológicos, sean punzones (Weglian 2001) o agujas (Rega 2000). Sin embargo, no se puede descartar la posibilidad de que los punzones se hallen tanto en tumbas de niños como de niñas, ya que podría suceder que ambos participasen en las tareas que realizaran sus madres, como sugiere Hamlin (2001).…”

Unpicking a Myth: The Infanticide of Female and Disabled Infants in Antiquity

“…The mortality profile at Mokrin suggests that we are seeing a normal population represented in the cemetery, with two significant exceptions: there is an absence of neonatal infants in the cemetery, and there are more female children than male (Rega 1997). 3 The absence of neonates in the cemetery is a phenomenon common to many societies in the past, and, fascinating though it is, it isn't the subject of t.his paper (but see Scott 1999, pp.…”

“…If tradition dictates that females will carry their wealth with them through t.heir lives, for distribution within their own biological family, then they are highly valued, for the fruits of their labours will remain their own and will have a beneficial effect on their biological family. Thus , in societies where, say, bride-wealth is practised, one sees preferential treatment of girls in poor families (Rega 1997) . Conversely, in Greek and Roman society, and in modern China a nd India, where female infanticide is known , women did not , and do not, carry wealth with them throughout their lives, with dowry systems and other mechanisms operating to transmit the woman's wealth to the family into which she marries (Scott 1999, pp.…”