INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY IN THE ANDRONOVO CULTURE OF THE FOREST-STEPPE ALTAI
Abstract
Infant and child mortality has been viewed as an important indicator of the social and economic well-being of a society that correlates closely with fertility and population growth. The aim of the study was to investigate overall level and age distribution of child mortality in the Andronovo (Fedorovo) Culture of the Forest-Steppe Altai, dated to the Middle Bronze Age. Skeletal remains of 321 sub-adults (0–14 years of age) from the Rublevo-VIII, Firsovo-XIV, and Chekanovskiy Log-2 and 10 cemeteries were studied. The overall child mortality rate was 66%. In all three local groups, child mortality follows a general pattern with the majority of deaths occurring before the age of one year, after which the mortality rate consistently decreases with advancing age. A large number of full-term and preterm newborns buried in separate graves, with grave goods, within the communal cemetery suggest that all babies from the moment of the birth were integrated in the social structure of the Andronovo communities. There were local-territorial differences in the ratio of the neonatal (under 1 month), or endogenous, and postneonatal (between 1 and 12 months), or exogenous, mortality. In the Rublevo-VIII and Chekanovskiy Log-2 and 10 sites, the former was higher than the latter, in Firsovo-XIV — vice versa. However, field archaeological documentation shows that not all children buried in the cemeteries were represented in the sample studied because of poor preservation of their skeletal remains. Taking into account “missing” children, the overall sub-adult mortality could achieve 70%. High child mortality indicates high fertility in the Andronovo communities. The causes of high neonatal and postneonatal mortality rates remain unknown and require further investigation.
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