Commemorating Childhood: The Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Archaeology of the Achaemenid Levant

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study examines the social status of children in the Ancient Middle East, focusing on a fifth-century BCE cemetery at Tell el-Mazar, Jordan. Using mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology methods, the research aims to uncover how children were commemorated within their familial and communal contexts. Bioarchaeological methods will be employed to explore aspects like age, biological sex, and societal constructs of gender and childhood. Concurrently, mortuary archaeology will help me consider issues such as how the living commemorated the dead using mortuary furniture and objects.

Although the original excavation data from Tell el-Mazar is unavailable, a comparative analysis with a detailed report from Kamid el-Loz will supplement the study. By examining burial practices and community care for vulnerable members, children, this research seeks to reveal the roles and significance of children within nuclear families and wider communities. Moreover, insights into disease prevalence, living conditions, and intergenerational pathologies will be explored, providing a holistic understanding of childhood in ancient societies. Through this multidisciplinary approach, the study aims to explain the societal values and perceptions attached to children in the past in the Achaemenid era Levant. ***This presentation will include images of human remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 1184