The Bioarchaeology of Fetuses

Summary

Until relatively recently, fetuses, along with infants and children, were largely overlooked in bioarchaeological research. Over the past 20 years there has been increasing recognition of the importance of research on immature individuals in the archaeological context. However, although fetuses are now sometimes included in analyses of population health and isotopic studies of infant weaning and diet in the past, most research focuses on postnatal individuals. This paper reviews some of the bioarchaeological research that has been undertaken in this area and starts to build a theoretical framework to conceptualize fetuses from an archaeological context and to identify areas for future research potential. We explore how the fetus is defined in the field, including discerning whether the fetus is in-utero or not, and terminological issues. We outline the contribution that the bioarchaeology of fetuses can make to understanding fertility and other demographic information of a population, epidemiology of disease, maternal and infant stress and the consequences of early stress on later life experience, and cultural or social aspects of personhood.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• On the Move: Archaeological Approaches to Children and Childhood

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