Infant burials related to inhabited areas in Rome. New results for understanding socio-cultural structures of an ancient community

In antiquity, children who died during the prenatal period or in the first years of life represent a very high percentage of the deceased population. However, according to archaeological evidence, the record of infant burials found in cemeteries is low and cannot be considered completely representative of neo-natal and infant mortality. The underestimation of children in the necropoleis indicates that a specific funeral treatment probably occurred for infants. This is particularly evident in Latium where the custom of burying infants and children inside the inhabited areas, near or below huts consistently occurred from the 9th century to the 6th-5th century BC. Significant evidence of this custom comes from the northern part of ancient Latium, at the sites of Rome, Ficana, Pratica di Mare and Ardea. This chapter discusses the evidence from Rome where a certain number of infant burials were found during excavations in the 20th century and also in recent years. The infant burials found in the Roman Forum, near the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, by Giacomo Boni at the beginning of the 20th century, together with the burials recently discovered in the Caesar Forum and on the Capitolium hill in the area of Giardino Romano, are discussed and analysed using a new approach. The results have been compared with those from past research. Bioarchaeological data, and especially identification of the sex and age of the dead together with zooarchaeological an archaeobotanical data, allow a better understanding of the structure of the earliest community of Rome, with particular regard to health, nutrition and diet.