Uncovering Ancient Secrets: Why Did Neolithic Parents Choose Animal-Shaped Bottles for Their Babies?
On one hand, the transition from human to animal milk allowed for an enormous population growth. On the other, weaning babies off of human milk so early and using tiny-spouted clay pots “could have been extremely detrimental” — and led to a lot of unnecessary deaths.
“These bottles would have been so hard to clean,” said Halcrow. “Never mind them not having access to clean water in the first place. But getting into those tiny little spouts? These would have been really unsanitary to use and introduced all kinds of germs into the infant diet.”
That may explain why an estimated 35 percent of babies from that period died within a year, while only half reached adulthood.
Katharina Rebay-Salisbury/Nature JournalThe bowls were shaped like “mythical animals,” rather than realistic ones, and were small enough for a baby to hold.
Archaeologists previously speculated that this type of pottery was used to feed the infirm or the elderly — probably because women have been historical sidelined in archaeology.
“Let’s face it,” said Dunne. “Sometimes research on women tends to be a little bit marginalized compared to research on what the men in prehistoric times were doing out there….So you don’t get perhaps so much about women and motherhood and children.”
Archaeologists haven’t even started looking into women and children’s experiences in ancient societies until the last 15 or 20. But with that research comes great insights.
“Broadening our lens to include infants and children in the past is really important for a number of reasons,” said Halcrow. “They made up a high proportion of past populations. And if their health and experience is poor, that’s obviously detrimental to society’s function.”
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