Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

8-2024

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Anthropology

Degree Program

Anthropology, MA

Committee Chair

Marklein, Kathryn E.

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Parkhurst, Shawn

Committee Member

Parkhurst, Shawn

Committee Member

Devlin, Rebecca

Committee Member

Chaput, Dale

Author's Keywords

Identity; personhood; childhood; early byzantine; anatolia; bioarchaeology

Abstract

Bioarchaeological studies of children in the past have proliferated in recent years and illustrate the informational depths accessible through investigations of mortality, age, and health and disease. Alongside analyses of childhood stress and mortality, the mortuary treatment of children provides critical insight into the social structures and identity formation processes that individuals or groups are subject to in life. This thesis will investigate the intersections of childhood, gender and sex, space, and mortuary treatment as seen in a Byzantine cemetery comprised primarily of children at the site of Syedra, Türkiye through bioarchaeological and proteomic analysis. Specifically, it seeks to explore how differential treatment in death related to age, genotypic sex, and status captures differential treatment in life along these aspects of social identity and personhood. The study of ancient children and investigations into Anatolia during Late Antiquity are growing fields; however, studies which attempt to investigate gendered differences in the skeletal remains and mortuary treatment of children during this period are sparce, and typically focused on western regions of the Late Roman Empire or centuries well into the Medieval Period. The preliminary sample utilized in this study was uncovered during systematic excavations aimed at documenting the growth of the city and identifying building phases over Syedra’s history under the direction of H. Ergürer. Syedra is located along the southern coast of Anatolia, in the Alanya district of Antalya province. Skeletal analysis revealed a high frequency of children in the sample relative to adults. Proteomic analyses revealed that there is a markedly higher frequency of females in the sample relative to males. Spatial analysis revealed potential relationships between status and the nearby church (Structure 4). Beyond contributing to existing Late Antique and bioarchaeological scholarship in the form of a locally focused case study, the employment of proteomic analysis and a thoroughly interdisciplinary contextual framework in this thesis offers a possible avenue of investigation for future questions of sex, gender, and childhood.

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