Life and Death of Children from the Scythian Time Middle Don Settlements

Abstract

The article summarizes archaeological and anthropological information regarding the children’s group of the settled population of the Middle Don. Sources are materials from barrowless burials and household sites of the 6 th—3 rd centuries BC. The basic conditions of everyday life and the features of the funerary rites of the named demographic group are considered. Based on the results of the anthropological research on bone residues, the state of health and the nutrition system of younger individuals were assessed. The available data indicate unfavorable living conditions in general, primarily about the imperfection of the diet, heavy physical activity. In the clothing complex of sedentary sites, children’s household items (jewelry, amulets, toys) are distinguished. The few children’s ditch graves and the widespread practice of exhibiting corpses are characterized. According to the group burials identified at the Semiluksky hillfort and containing mainly the remains of children, the ritual of extraordinary funerary-sacrificial complexes is traced.