Farewell to the Young: Early Iron Age Mortuary Practices in the Middle Danube Region

Abstract

The study of burials and mortuary practices in the past provides essential information on the role and treatment of children in past communities. This study aims to better understand the status of children by reviewing the material culture provided by child burial contexts. Early Iron Age (800–300 BC) mortuary practices in the southern Middle Danube (present–day eastern Croatia and northwestern Serbia) are characterized mostly by the cremation of the dead. The Iron Age is an important time for funerary transitions. The standard practice of cremating the dead was replaced by the practice of inhumation during the 6th century BC. The manner of treatment of the dead body affected the preservation of objects and data in the graves. This paper studies 74 burials with child remains, costumes, jewellery, tool items, and pottery grave goods. In Early Iron Age mortuary practices, children were treated just like the adult members of the community.