It makes sense that humans would have needed something to carry their babies around as they moved from place to place. It's been anyone's guess that the practice actually took place because of the lack of hard evidence.
The use of baby carriers about 10,000 years ago has been argued for by a team of scientists from the University of Montréal.
Led by Claudine Gravel-Miguel, an Arizona State University anthropologist now working as a guest researcher in the UdeM anthropology professor's lab, the team combined innovative analytical methods to extract hard-to-obtain information.
The team's findings are published in a journal. In their study, Gravel-Miguel and her colleagues describe how they used a high-definition 3D photogrammetry model of the burial together with observations and microCT scans to document in detail how the burial took place and how the beads were likely used.
The beads were sewn onto the piece of leather or cloth that was used to wrap Neve for her final resting place. There were more than 70 small marine shells and four large bivalve pendants in this decoration. The scientists observe that most of the beads have heavy signs of use.
The beads had been worn for a long time by someone in the infant's community before they were handed down to her.
Gravel-Miguel said it's interesting that the community decided to part with the beads in the burial of a young person. The research shows that the beads and pendants adorned the carrier.
Using ethnographic observations of how baby carriers are adorned and used in some modern hunter-gatherer societies, the study suggests that Neve's community may have decorated her carrier with beads meant to protect her against evil. As her death signaled that the beads had failed, it would have been better to bury the carrier.
The growing literature of prehistoric childcare and the likely use and reuse of beads to protect individuals and maintain the social links within a community is a result of the new research.
He said that the paper contributed original information on the archaeology of childcare. The science and art of archaeology can be used to get to the human element that drives the kind of research we do.
More information: C. Gravel-Miguel et al, The Ornaments of the Arma Veirana Early Mesolithic Infant Burial, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s10816-022-09573-7
All Rights Reserved © 2024
