Growing up in an Italian Copper Age community: the role of children in everyday life Grandir dans une communauté de l’âge du cuivre en Italie : le rôle des enfants dans la vie quotidienne
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14 janvier 2023
- handle: 10670/1.dmpyvh
- hal: hal-03982407
- doi: 10.4000/bmsap.10826
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.4000/bmsap.10826
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ , info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
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Sara Bernardini et al., « Grandir dans une communauté de l’âge du cuivre en Italie : le rôle des enfants dans la vie quotidienne », HALSHS : archive ouverte en Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société, ID : 10.4000/bmsap.10826
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Résumé
The study of children’s role in past communities is difficult to face in archaeology. An active contribution of the children in everyday life varies within societies and cultures, as well as the social and biological definition of childhood. In Central Italy, specific funerary customs for subadults are documented in the Copper Age(4th-3rd millennia BCE) according to age classes. Here we propose to investigate childhood in an Italian Copper Age human group by a multi- isotope analysis (δ$^{13}$C, δ$^{15}$N,δ$^{34}$S and $^{87}$Sr/$^{86}$Sr) on dentine/enamel and bone of two adult individuals, from the funerary cave of Grotta Spinosa (Central Italy). The reconstruction of the dietary intake variation and of the displacements occurred during early-life was compared to the adult values and to those of the rest of the group analysed, as well as the few comparative data available from prehistoric Italy. The framework obtained from this multi-tissue and multi-isotope study helped to shed light on experiences previously only suggested by the archaeological and skeletal evidence (i.e. passage to adulthood, and children’s implication in community life). The interpretation of the isotopic data in the light of the archaeological and biological information available, from the cave and the region (Central Italy), allowed us to suggest an age interval (ca. 10-12 y.o.) in which the children were likely involved in the "adult’s" tasks. This exploratory study highlights the interest of geochemical tools applied on archaeological remains and the need to develop further high-resolution and multi-tissue sampling when investigating particular past population practices.