Article2011

Aging cremated infants: the problem of sacrifice at the Tophet of Carthage

Patricia Smith · Gal Avishai · Joseph A. Greene · Lawrence E. Stager

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Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Abstract

The Greeks and Romans reproached the Phoenicians for the sacrifice of infants, and the excavation of cremated infants at ‘Tophets’ (named after the sacrificial site in Jerusalem mentioned in the Bible) seems to bear this out. However, the argument for infant sacrifice depends largely on a skewed age profile, and age is not easy to determine. The authors approach this problem with a battery of new techniques, showing that in the Tophet of Carthage the majority of the infants died between one and one and a half months. Sacrifice was thus very probable.

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References

1984Burnt bones and teeth: an experimental study of color, morphology, crystal structure and shrinkage 1978Forensic fetal osteology 2005Children and Material Culture 1995Scanning electron microscope observations of heat-treated human bone 1964Studies in Old Testament sacrifice 1993Increasing human tooth length between birth and 5.4 years 1960A Study of Cremation 2005Roman Period fetal skeletons from the East Cemetery (Kellis 2) of Kellis, Egypt

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2011Gestation Length, Mode of Delivery, and Neonatal Line-Thickness Variation 2012Bones, teeth, and estimating age of perinates: Carthaginian infant sacrifice revisited 2013Cemetery or sacrifice? Infant burials at the Carthage Tophet 2019A Divine Couple: Demeter Malophoros and Zeus Meilichios in Selinus 2017Two tales of one city: data, inference and Carthaginian infant sacrifice 2025Phoenicia, Carthage, and Popular Government in the Pre-Classical Mediterranean

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