Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-26T18:33:42.350Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An infant cemetery of the Classic Kerma period (1750–1500 BC, Island of Saï, Sudan)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

P. Murail
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS 5809, Bordeaux 1 University, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, Avenue des Facultés, F-33405 Talence cedex, France. (Email: p.murail@anthropologie.u- bordeaux1.fr)
B. Maureille
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS 5809, Bordeaux 1 University, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, Avenue des Facultés, F-33405 Talence cedex, France.
D. Peresinotto
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS 5809, Bordeaux 1 University, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, Avenue des Facultés, F-33405 Talence cedex, France.
F. Geus
Affiliation:
Section Française de la Direction des Antiquités du Soudan and URA 1275, Lille III University, France.

Abstract

Excavation of a Classic Kerma cemetery in Sudan revealed a number of burials segregated by age, throwing into question a presumed disregard for the burial of the young. Burial rites were varied according to the age of the deceased and show a remarkable concern for the ritual burial of infants and the stillborn

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bocquet-Appel, J.P. & Masset, C.. 1982. Farewell to palaeodemography. Journal of Human Evolution 11: 321333.Google Scholar
Bonnet, C. 1995. Les fouilles archéologiques à Kerma (Soudan). Genava XLIII: 4650.Google Scholar
Bonnet, C. 1997. Le royaume de Kerma, in Institut du Monde Arabe (ed.), Soudan, Royaumes ssur le Nil: 89118. Paris: Flammarion.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. & Konigsberg, L.W.. 1985. Paleodemography: critiques and controversies. American Anthropologist 87: 316333.Google Scholar
Coqueugniot, H., Crubézy, E. Hérouin, S. & Midant-Reynes, B.. 1998. La nécropole nagadienne d’Adaïma. Distribution par âge des sujets du secteur est. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale 98: 127137.Google Scholar
Duday, H., Courtaud, P. Crubézy, E. Sellier, P. & Tillier, A.M.. 1990. L’anthropologie “de terrain”: reconnaissance et interprétation des gestes funéraires. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris 2: 2950.Google Scholar
Duday, H., Laubenheimer, A.M. & Tillier, A.M.. 1995. Sallèles d’Aude: nouveau-nés et nourrissons gallo-romains. Besançon: Annales Littéraires de l’Université de Besançon, Centre de Recherches d’Histoire Ancienne.Google Scholar
Dupaquier, J. 1979. La population rurale du Bassin parisien à l’époque de Louis VIX. Lille: Publications de l’Université de Lille III.Google Scholar
Fazekas, G. & Kosa, F.. 1978. Forensic foetal osteology. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado.Google Scholar
Geus, F. 1994. L’île de Saï à travers l’histoire du Soudan. Les Dossiers d’Archéologie 196: 2237.Google Scholar
Geus, F. 2000. Geomorphology and prehistory of Sai Island (Nubia): report on a current research project, in Kryzaniak, L. Kroeper, K. & Kobusiewicz, M. (ed.). Recent research into the Stone Age of Northeastern Africa: 119128. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Gratien, B. 1978. Les cultures Kerma. Essai de classification. Lille: Publications de l’Université de Lille III.Google Scholar
Ledermann, S. 1969. Nouvelles tables types de mortalité. Paris: INED, Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Majo, T. 1996. Réflexions méthodologiques liées à la diagnose sexuelle des squelettes non adultes. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris 8: 481490.Google Scholar
Moorrees, C.F., Fanning, E.A. & Hunt, E.E.. 1963a. Formation and resorption of three deciduous teeth in Children. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 21: 205213 Google Scholar
Moorrees, C.F., Fanning, E.A. & Hunt, E.E.. 1963b. Age variation of formation stages for ten permanent teeth, Journal of Dental Research 42 (6): 14901502.Google Scholar
Murail, P. 1997. Pratiques funéraires et paléodémographie: les sujets immatures de la nécropole gallo-romaine de Chantambre (Essonne), in Buchet, L. (ed.). L’enfant, son corps, son histoire: 227237. Sophia Antipolis: APDCA.Google Scholar
Murail, P., Bruzek, J. & J. Braga, . 1999. A new approach to sexual diagnosis in past populations. Practical adjustments from Van Vark’s procedure. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 9: 3953.Google Scholar
Murail, P., Crubézy, E. Martin, H. Haye, L. Bruzek, J. Giscard, P.H. Turbat, T. & Erdenebaatar, D.. 2000. The man, the woman and the hyoid bone: from archaeology to the burial practices of the Xiongnu people (Egiin Gol valley, Mongolia). Antiquity 74: 531536.Google Scholar
Reisner, G.A. 1923. Excavations at Kerma. Boston: Harvard African Studies.Google Scholar
Saunders, S., Devito, C. Herring, A. Southern, R. & Hoppa, R.. 1993. Accuracy tests of tooth formation age estimations for human skeletal remains. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 92: 173188.Google Scholar
Sellier, P. 1996. La mise en évidence d’anomalies démographiques et leur interprétation: population, recrutement et pratiques funéraires du tumulus de Courtesoult, in Piningre, J.F. (ed.), Nécropoles et société au premier âge du Fer. Le tumulus de Courtesoult (Haute-Saône): 188202. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.Google Scholar
Smith, P. & Kahila, G.. 1992. Identification of infanticide in archaeological sites: a case study from the late roman – early Byzantin periods at Ashkelon. Journal of Archaeological Science 19: 667675 Google Scholar
Van Gerven, D.P. & Armelagos, G.J.. 1983. “Farewell to paleodemography?” Rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Journal of Human Evolution 12: 353360.Google Scholar
Vila, A. 1987. Le cimetière Kermaïque d’Ukma Ouest. Paris: Editions du CNRS.Google Scholar
Walker, P.L. 1995. Problems of preservation and sexism in sexing: some lessons from historical collections for paleodemographers, in Saunders, S.R. & Herring, A. (ed.), Grave reflections: portraying the past through cemetery studies: 3147. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press.Google Scholar
Williams, J. T. 1992. Life Tables in Paleodemography: A methodological note. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 2: 131138.Google Scholar