JUVENILE MORTALITY IN SOUTHERN AFRICANARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS

摘要

Estimates of age at death that are both accurate and precise can provideinformation about the patterns and causes of premature mortality inboth Later Stone Age and Iron Age archaeology. Assuming a linkbetween subsistence and health, differences in patterns of childhoodgrowth are hypothesized. The best source of this information comesfrom the formation of tooth crowns and roots. Through the study offemur shafts from Later Stone Age juvenile skeletons, it can be demon-strated that linear growth was normal in tempo. The study of femorafrom a smaller number of Iron Age juvenile skeletons suggests thatgrowth in this group did not follow a normal pattern, perhaps becauseprolonged ill health preceded death. Growth of Iron Age children whofailed to reach adulthood appears to be variable but slow and this mayprovide insights into the Iron Age biosocial environment. Because ofthe demonstrated correlation between dental development and femurshaft length, the Later Stone Age juvenile long bone lengths providedhere can be used in Later Stone Age contexts to estimate chronologicalage at death if dental information is unavailable. This approach shouldnot be used in Iron Age contexts, since such an approach is likely toyield biased (under-aged) estimates of age at death.