We’re all in this together: accessing the maternal-infant relationship in prehistoric Vietnam

Abstract

Family can be broadly defined as a community of care, cooperation and shared resources. As we move further into the past, however, our ability to observe these relationships becomes blurred.For most of human history, ethnographic and historical documents are lacking; identity and relationships are therefore inferred through the analyses of mortuary practices and evidence of production through artefacts and features. In this study, we examine the unique connection that exists between mother and infant, illustrating how this relationship gives potential insight into lived experiences in the past.The human skeleton reflects an individual's biocultural life-course, recording information on diet, health, and stress. Using new methods for inferring physiological stress during the foetal, infant and childhood periods, this chapter investigates the early lives of two subadult individuals through the lens of the maternal-infant nexus from the Neolithic site of Man Bac in Vietnam. We apply a novel approach that incorporates stable isotopic evidence for weaning and diet, with a quantitative method of identifying and measuring linear enamel hypoplasia to assess physiological stress during development. These case studies are interpreted within a bioarchaeology of infant and child-care theoretical model approach that focuses on the maternalinfant nexus, and incorporates information on fertility, palaeopathological data, archaeological data on the natural and social environment, and social organisation. The maternal-infant nexusIn recent years, the study of women and children has blossomed within historical, anthropological and archaeological research, giving voice to those individuals who were previously unseen, mislabelled, or defined only by their relationships to men (Lillehammer 2015;

Hypomineralization disorder in tropical Southeast Asia during the agricultural revolution: Analysis of morbidity and mortality

“…As such, the perinates reported here are proxies for very poor maternal health at Man Bac. These findings are supported by Adams et al (2021) who reported multiple episodes of in utero stress via nitrogen isotopes and deciduous linear enamel hypoplasia in the Man Bac infants. Adams et al (2021) report a case of a 3‐year‐old at time of death who exhibited greater catabolism (higher δ 15 N levels) due to stress in utero than after birth, a rare but important finding in the context of infant and maternal health during the Neolithic period of northern Vietnam.…”

“…Infection also appears to peak in the second trimester, although the dearth of data on infection in the first trimester is likely biasing this pattern (Desai et al, 2007; Takem & D'Alessandro, 2013). Kendall et al (2020) demonstrated that higher δ 15 N and lower δ 13 C values were present in babies during the late fetal period, a similar finding to Adams et al (2021). Kendall et al (2020) interpreted this as due to higher inflammation during malarial infection inhibiting transfer of nutrients to the fetus.…”

The role of dietary calcium in the etiology of childhood rickets in the past and the present

“…Substantial evidence for the established presence of treponemal disease in this region from before the agricultural transition exists and this, among a suite of other infections invisible in the archeological record, may have reduced the bioavailable vitamin D, and other vitamins and minerals in this infant's gut. Respiratory disease as evident in eight Adams et al, 2021;Snoddy et al, 2017Snoddy, Beaumont, et al, 2020;Vlok et al, 2020Vlok et al, , 2021, the rachitic endochondral porosity appears, heavier and coarser in morphology than what we have observed in scorbutic endochondral porosity.…”

Human femur morphology and histology variation with ancestry and behaviour in an ancient sample from Vietnam

“…The population was under some demographic stress with a high fertility rate of 6.8 births per woman as well as an estimated elevated rate of natural population increase of 4.3% per annum . Furthermore, extreme physiological stress and poor health were evidenced by treponemal disease, malaria, thalassaemia, anaemia and scurvy identified in both adults and children (Adams et al, 2021;McDonell & Oxenham, 2014;Vlok et al, 2020;2021a;2021b). Walker et al (2022a) recently examined humeral and femoral bone histology in an individual from Mán Bạc afflicted with paraplegia (possibly quadriplegia), describing microscopic changes in skeletal tissue in response to muscular dysfunction.…”