Comment on `A Bayesian approach to ageing perinatal skeletal material from archaeological sites: implications for the evidence for infanticide in Roman Britain' by R.L. Gowland and A.T. Chamberlain

Metadata

Title:

Issue:

J Archaeol Sci 30 (12)

Series:

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volume:

30 (12)

Page Start/End:

1695 - 1700

Biblio Note

Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database. The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.

Publication Type:

Journal

Abstract:

In 1993, the author published a paper noting that the age distribution of perinatal infants for some Romano-British sites did not conform to a natural mortality pattern but rather showed a pronounced peak at a gestational age corresponding approximately to a full term infant. The author interpreted this as suggestive of infanticide, given that the deed is generally carried out immediately after birth. Gowland and Chamberlain have recently published a reconsideration of the problem of Roman infanticide (see 2003/130) in which they suggest that the peak the author observed in the Romano-British perinatal age at death distribution may have been an artefact of the particular ageing technique the author used, and they hence call into question the evidence for Roman infanticide. In this comment the author argues that their work is flawed and, using a re-analysis of his 1993 data, demonstrates that the perinatal peak he observed in the Romano-British age distribution is a robust result that supports an interpretation of infanticide.

Author:

Simon Mays

Year of Publication:

2003

Subjects / Periods:

ROMAN (Historic England Periods)
	Roman Britain [General Discussions Only] (BIAB)
	Bayesian Statistics (BIAB)

Note:

Author Keywords: Roman infanticide; Perinatal age estimation; Human osteology

Source:

BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))

Created Date:

28 Apr 2004

Mays, S. (2003). Comment on `A Bayesian approach to ageing perinatal skeletal material from archaeological sites: implications for the evidence for infanticide in Roman Britain' by R.L. Gowland and A.T. Chamberlain. J Archaeol Sci 30 (12). Vol 30(12), pp. 1695-1700.

Follow us