Urban and rural infant‐feeding practices and health in early medieval Central Europe (9th–10th Century, Czech Republic)

Abstract

In the Central European context, the 9th and 10th centuries are well known for rapid cultural and societal changes concerning the development of the economic and political structures of states as well as the adoption of Christianity. A bioarchaeological study based on a subadult skeletal series was conducted to tackle the impact of these changes on infant and young child feeding practices and, consequently, their health in both urban and rural populations. Data on growth and frequency of nonspecific stress indicators of a subadult group aged 0-6 years were analyzed. A subsample of 41 individuals was selected for nitrogen and carbon isotope analyses, applying an intra-individual sampling strategy (bone vs. tooth). The isotopic results attest to a mosaic of food behaviors. In the urban sample, some children may have been weaned during their second year of life, while some others may have still been consuming breast milk substantially up to 4-5 years of age. By contrast, data from the rural sample show more homogeneity, with a gradual cessation of breastfeeding starting after the age of 2 years. Several factors are suggested which may have been responsible for applied weaning strategies. There is no evidence that observed weaning strategies affected the level of biological stress which the urban subadult population had to face compared with the rural subadult population.

Longitudinal Study of Stable Isotope Compositions of Maternal Milk and Implications for the Palaeo-Diet of Infants

“…To summarise, it appears from the modern data obtained in this study that the pattern of isotopic values recorded in children's tissues during the course of breastfeeding and weaning processes is more complex than previously thought. Nitrogen isotope ratios are still a relevant proxy for tracking the consumption, decrease or stopping of maternal milk, whereas δ 13 C does not seem to be a relevant proxy, which confirms previously obtained results [11,43]. These results must be taken into consideration when using archaeological stable isotope bone data to detect ancient breastfeeding and weaning patterns.…”

“…These methods provide direct markers to assess the consumption of breast milk (stable isotopes of nitrogen and oxygen) and estimate the type of weaning food (carbon and sulphur isotopes, trace elements of strontium and barium). When these approaches have been applied to individuals of known age at death, they produce an estimation of the duration of breastfeeding and of the weaning age in populations represented only by archaeological remains for inter and intra-individual analyses [6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Stronger Together: Advancing a Global Bioarchaeology

“…New techniques that examine serial (incremental) sections of tooth dentine (e.g., Beaumont et al 2013;Burt and Garvie-Lok 2013;Eerkens et al 2011), along with analyses of bone collagen and apatite, are advancing our understanding of the weaning process and the identification of a weaning diet, a post-weaning diet, and the age at which an adult diet is adopted (e.g., Dupras and Tocheri 2007;Eerkens and Bartelink 2013;Richards et al 2002;Waters-Rist et al 2011). These methodological advances have led to a proliferation of research that has begun to tease out biocultural and environmental influences on past communities and contribute to the elucidation of relationships among diet, morbidity, and mortality in various subgroups (e.g., Bourbou et al 2013;Gregoricka and Sheridan 2012;Henderson et al 2014;Kaupová et al 2014;Prowse 2011;Reitsema and Vercelloti 2012;Reitsema et al 2016;Sandberg et al 2014). Additional tests of hypotheses concerning developmental pathways of health in the past and potential multigenerational effects (see, e.g., Beaumont et al 2015) will require multifaceted approaches to investigating the linkage between morbidity and mortality and address the osteological paradox.…”

Growth and health status of children and adolescents in medieval Central Europe

“…In medieval Poland small children stayed close to their mothers. Polish historical writings demonstrated the especially close mother-child bond until the child was 3-4 years old (Żołądź-Strzelczyk 2002), which was partly due to breastfeeding, lasting up to about 3 years of age in medieval Poland (Tyszkiewicz 1983;Żołądź-Strzelczyk 2002;Delimata 2004), similarly to other European medieval populations (Kaupová et al 2014;Britton et al 2015).…”