Towards a Bioarchaeology of Care of Children

Abstract

One of the key case studies used in the development, both theoretical and practical, of the bioarchaeology of care model (see Tilley & Oxenham, 2011 ) was the adult Man Bac Burial 9 (MB9), who as it turns out was severely physically (at least) incapacitated from childhood (Oxenham et al., 2009 ). In many ways the current staged approach to exploring the issue of care in the past (see Chap. 2 , this volume and references therein) can assess any individual from any time period and/or cultural background regardless of their fi nal age-at-death. Indeed, the care model should, at face value, be able to be trained on children , adults and the very old to great effect. In the case of MB9 care commenced while he was a young child , although an exact age of onset of his condition cannot be determined with any specifi city, and continued throughout childhood, into his teens and onto his mid to late twenties – at which time he died. The chief aim of this chapter is not so much to develop a complete, robust, theoretical and operational approach to the bioarchaeology of care of children , as we do not think this is necessary (see below), but rather to raise a series of questions regarding the study of children in potential care contexts in the past and to provide a case study that explores some of the implications of looking at children in contexts of potential care. This case study focuses on the children that lived, potentially received health care , and died at Man Bac some 4000 years ago in northern Vietnam .