Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.

Two types of cemeteries occur at Punic Carthage and other Carthaginian settlements: one centrally situated housing the remains of older children through adults, and another at the periphery of the settlement (the "Tophet") yielding small urns containing the cremated skeletal remains of ver...

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Autores principales:	Jeffrey H Schwartz, Frank Houghton, Roberto Macchiarelli, Luca Bondioli
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/17ebe9c6c04d4b1ba37042220dab14f2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:17ebe9c6c04d4b1ba37042220dab14f22021-11-25T06:25:46ZSkeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0009177https://doaj.org/article/17ebe9c6c04d4b1ba37042220dab14f22010-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20174667/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Two types of cemeteries occur at Punic Carthage and other Carthaginian settlements: one centrally situated housing the remains of older children through adults, and another at the periphery of the settlement (the "Tophet") yielding small urns containing the cremated skeletal remains of very young animals and humans, sometimes comingled. Although the absence of the youngest humans at the primary cemeteries is unusual and worthy of discussion, debate has focused on the significance of Tophets, especially at Carthage, as burial grounds for the young. One interpretation, based on two supposed eye-witness reports of large-scale Carthaginian infant sacrifice [Kleitarchos (3(rd) c. BCE) and Diodorus Siculus (1(st) c. BCE)], a particular translation of inscriptions on some burial monuments, and the argument that if the animals had been sacrificed so too were the humans, is that Tophets represent burial grounds reserved for sacrificial victims. An alternative hypothesis acknowledges that while the Carthaginians may have occasionally sacrificed humans, as did their contemporaries, the extreme youth of Tophet individuals suggests these cemeteries were not only for the sacrificed, but also for the very young, however they died. Here we present the first rigorous analysis of the largest sample of cremated human skeletal remains (348 burial urns, N = 540 individuals) from the Carthaginian Tophet based on tooth formation, enamel histology, cranial and postcranial metrics, and the potential effects of heat-induced bone shrinkage. Most of the sample fell within the period prenatal to 5-to-6 postnatal months, with a significant presence of prenates. Rather than indicating sacrifice as the agent of death, this age distribution is consistent with modern-day data on perinatal mortality, which at Carthage would also have been exacerbated by numerous diseases common in other major cities, such as Rome and Pompeii. Our diverse approaches to analyzing the cremated human remains from Carthage strongly support the conclusion that Tophets were cemeteries for those who died shortly before or after birth, regardless of the cause.Jeffrey H SchwartzFrank HoughtonRoberto MacchiarelliLuca BondioliPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 2, p e9177 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Jeffrey H Schwartz Frank Houghton Roberto Macchiarelli Luca Bondioli Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
description	Two types of cemeteries occur at Punic Carthage and other Carthaginian settlements: one centrally situated housing the remains of older children through adults, and another at the periphery of the settlement (the "Tophet") yielding small urns containing the cremated skeletal remains of very young animals and humans, sometimes comingled. Although the absence of the youngest humans at the primary cemeteries is unusual and worthy of discussion, debate has focused on the significance of Tophets, especially at Carthage, as burial grounds for the young. One interpretation, based on two supposed eye-witness reports of large-scale Carthaginian infant sacrifice [Kleitarchos (3(rd) c. BCE) and Diodorus Siculus (1(st) c. BCE)], a particular translation of inscriptions on some burial monuments, and the argument that if the animals had been sacrificed so too were the humans, is that Tophets represent burial grounds reserved for sacrificial victims. An alternative hypothesis acknowledges that while the Carthaginians may have occasionally sacrificed humans, as did their contemporaries, the extreme youth of Tophet individuals suggests these cemeteries were not only for the sacrificed, but also for the very young, however they died. Here we present the first rigorous analysis of the largest sample of cremated human skeletal remains (348 burial urns, N = 540 individuals) from the Carthaginian Tophet based on tooth formation, enamel histology, cranial and postcranial metrics, and the potential effects of heat-induced bone shrinkage. Most of the sample fell within the period prenatal to 5-to-6 postnatal months, with a significant presence of prenates. Rather than indicating sacrifice as the agent of death, this age distribution is consistent with modern-day data on perinatal mortality, which at Carthage would also have been exacerbated by numerous diseases common in other major cities, such as Rome and Pompeii. Our diverse approaches to analyzing the cremated human remains from Carthage strongly support the conclusion that Tophets were cemeteries for those who died shortly before or after birth, regardless of the cause.
format	article
author	Jeffrey H Schwartz Frank Houghton Roberto Macchiarelli Luca Bondioli
author_facet	Jeffrey H Schwartz Frank Houghton Roberto Macchiarelli Luca Bondioli
author_sort	Jeffrey H Schwartz
title	Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
title_short	Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
title_full	Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
title_fullStr	Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
title_full_unstemmed	Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
title_sort	skeletal remains from punic carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/17ebe9c6c04d4b1ba37042220dab14f2
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Skeletal remains from Punic Carthage do not support systematic sacrifice of infants.

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