Reconstructing the Childhood Diet of an Eighteenth- to Nineteenth-Century North Carolina Land-Owning Family

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Breastfeeding and weaning practices can impact a child’s immune system development and nutritional status and cause long-term health effects. Here we explore the potential relationship between the weaning process and childhood frailty in a late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century land-owning family in coastal North Carolina. The 10 individuals recovered from the Gause family cemetery in 2017 and 2018 include six children under the age of eight. Incremental δ13C and δ15N of dentin collagen of 12 teeth along with 10 bone samples provide a record of dietary and trophic level shifts that occurred during the weaning and post-weaning periods. The timing of weaning in addition to the composition of solid foods used to supplement breastmilk will be compared between subadult and adult individuals to identify whether particular childhood diets or weaning practices link with childhood mortality. These data are supplemented by macroscopic, radiographic, and histological evidence for metabolic deficiencies that may also impact childhood morbidity and mortality. Overall, this evidence will identify the weaning practices and dietary supplementation of “elite” land-owning families in the Lower Cape Fear region and their potential impact on population frailty.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33200