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Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - Drunky - 25th June 2010
Archaeologists investigating a mass burial of 97 infants at a Roman villa in the Thames Valley believe it may have been a brothel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10384460.stm
The Hambleden investigation features in a new BBC TV archaeology series, Digging for Britain presented by Dr Alice Roberts, to be broadcast on BBC Two in July and August
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - deadlylampshade - 26th June 2010
Hmmm...is this more gladiators and tiger bites? My scepticism is only induced by the fact it is going to be on another TV show...perhaps the truth is too boring to discuss and it has to be "sexed" up again.
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - kevin wooldridge - 26th June 2010
I think the science behind it is quite interesting. Simon Mays (EH) has done previous work on Roman neonate remains, but the results have always been inconclusive due to the small sample size. Hopefully on this occassion the relatively large sample will allow for some interesting scientific conclusions. Maybe for once the TV pogramme will be about the scientific process rather than just speculation on the cultural/social mores (have to say though if this press release is any indication that early signs do not look good.......)
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - troll - 26th June 2010
Quite interesting.......
Perhaps the mitochondrial DNA will suggest that the majority of the infants belonged to a small number of women? If this was a brothel-it strikes me as a bit interesting that "unwanted" infants were buried in the immediate locale and not disposed of elsewhere. There are plenty of examples where infants have been interred within the fabric of Roman buildings-none as far as I am aware have been interpreted as either murder victims or the by-products of a brothel. How many other "securely identified" brothels of the period have been shown to house large numbers of infants? Could we not be looking at a building that was some sort of maternity unit and the infants were simply all lost at birth or stillborn? Would this not explain the similarities in age at death? Age at death estimations in infants is iffy anyway and long-bone lengths are merely a guide. Maybe they were all interred within the bounds of this building as it was "protected" by a deity responsible for the care of children? How do we prove infanticide?
This really could turn out to be extremely interesting but I smell the sinister odour of sensationalism yet again......:face-approve:
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - deadlylampshade - 26th June 2010
I live in the hope that I am proved wrong and it is about the scientific process, however the tabloidesque nature of the title in itself does not give me confidence.
Forgive my ignorance but how many other multiple grave sites of this number for infants are we aware of in a similar period?
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - kevin wooldridge - 26th June 2010
Not so many grave sites found, but there are plenty of references in Roman literature to infanticide - so the practice in itself is not unusual. I like Troll's idea of a Roman laying-in hospital.
Although the bones were kept from the excavation , there doesn't seem to much in the way of supporting straitgraphic evidence so the context of the burials and the time period over which they were interred may be difficult to establish. I mean if the site was in use for 300+ years then the number of nenoate burials per year is extremely small and probably not statistically significant (roughly one dead child every 3 years seems to be a remarkably low infant death rate) and of course the 'sensational' aspect of the story loses some of its phlegm.....
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - deadlylampshade - 27th June 2010
kevin wooldridge Wrote:Not so many grave sites found, but there are plenty of references in Roman literature to infanticide - so the practice in itself is not unusual. I like Troll's idea of a Roman laying-in hospital.
Although the bones were kept from the excavation , there doesn't seem to much in the way of supporting straitgraphic evidence so the context of the burials and the time period over which they were interred may be difficult to establish. I mean if the site was in use for 300+ years then the number of nenoate burials per year is extremely small and probably not statistically significant (roughly one dead child every 3 years seems to be a remarkably low infant death rate) and of course the 'sensational' aspect of the story loses some of its phlegm.....
It was the numbers involved which interested me (note my edit to remove mass grave as I got a little exceited myself!!)but if you say there is no certainty as to the period over which they have been found then yes, it is less "scandalous." My own personal experience of such things is one infant found at a 3rd C Roman level in a fort and a medieval hospital burial ground (so a bit Tom Jones there really).
Hopefully the programme will explore the lack of stratigraphic eveidence as you say. I suppose we will have to wait and see.
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - kevin wooldridge - 27th June 2010
Anyone in interested in some background readiing on the subject might like to look at this article by Mays and Faerman in Journal of Archaeological Science from 2001:
http://bioanthropology.huji.ac.il/pdf/Mays_Faerman2001.pdf
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - deadlylampshade - 27th June 2010
Thanks for the link KW
Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire - PeterM - 28th June 2010
The orignal report suggested (if memory of reading it 30 years ago serves me right) that the infants were from slave mothers on an estate that may have been breeding slaves (seems an inefficient way of getting them, rather than nipping down to the market and buying a few) but that may be as likely as the current hyped theory.
This report was significant as it was the first to identify the T-shaped (and other shaped) flues found in villa sites as "grain driers".