Food for Thought? The Use of Ceramic “Baby” Bottles in Roman Britain

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Motherhood" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since the mid-nineteenth century in Britain, a small collection of Roman spouted ceramic vessels have been assigned the functional description of “infant feeders” or “baby bottles,” primarily through their recovery from infant and child burial contexts. Vessels of this type have been recorded from across the Roman Empire, yet in Britain they are relatively rare and have no comparable prehistoric predecessors. More recently, literary and bioarchaeological research has provided important information on maternal and infant health, breastfeeding and weaning patterns, and the potential role of these vessels in such care practices; roles that have been strengthened by residue analysis showing such vessels may have held dairy products. This paper draws on a recent survey of the “baby” bottles of Roman Britain and complementary program of Organic Residue Analysis to explore this phenomenon at a local level. Through combining material, scientific, contextual, and literary evidence, what can these vessels tell us about family life and maternal feeding choices in the context of a Roman province on the edge of the empire.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Archaeologies of Motherhood

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39279.0