Înmormântări de copii în așezările tracilor nordici în Epoca Fierului
Children Burials in Northern Thracian Settlements During the Iron Age

Summary/Abstract: In the case of the northern Thracians we will consider the area comprised between Balkans, Tisza and Dniestr and the chronological framework of the 12th c. BC till the 1st c. AD.The burial of children in settlements happened concurrently with their deposition in regular cemeteries, surprising remaining for some periods only the larger number of children found in non-funerary contexts and, in cases, some differences in rituals and funerary inventory between the two categories of sites.No written source makes any mention regarding the manner in which the northern Thracians treated their deceased children, the diseases they suffered from, the criteria that mattered when deciding that some children were buried in the settlements and others in the cemeteries, the rituals practiced at their burials. Only in few cases there were noticed traces of violence on the children bones, and even then it was not clear if they could be considered cause of death or were subsequently applied. In the same time, it is known that there are killing methods that do not leave marks visible on the bones (suffocation, poisoning, drowning).The large number of children deposited inside settlements can be explained, first of all, by the increased child mortality rate of the past and by the mentality of many archaic populations to bury their children close to the house. In many situations the lack of skeletons parts can be explained by the post-mortem manipulation of the deceased, on the basis of specific beliefs, now difficult to define.

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