Child burials practices in Ancient Alexandria

Slid 1

Hola, first of all, I am really glad and grateful to be here, participate in this global
event and represent my country Egypt, the cradle of ancient civilization, and my
cosmopolitan City Alexandria, one of most important centers of Hellenistic
civilization, sharing my experiences as Bio-archaeologist responsible for recording
Human Remains on Salvage Excavation which had been run since 2012 until now,
on Alexandria Cemeteries sites especially on Eastern cemetery. so, before the
beginning I would like to thank all organizers, especially DR. Elizapis for her
invitation
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The idea of this lecture began Nine years ago ,when I saw child burial first time, I
don’t forgot my impression and how much the questions, I asked to myself about
who this child? why he buried here? what are the reasons of death? and how the
Graeco-Roman Egypt society deal with child before and after death? , but in this
time, it I couldn't answer because it’s just one child burial I can’t judge through it ,
but now after I recorded 34 child burial through my excavation , I have something
to say in this presentation which will present primary study of child burials practices
from recently excavation, aimed at answering a complex previous question

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This lecture divided into 5 points; First is an introduction briefed the social status
and the Death rate for child in Graeoco Romain society, second point display the
Historical background of child burials in Ancient Egypt, third one gives the
important information about Alexandria cemeteries and the most important previous
excavation for child , when the forth point explain the sites in question and the
material which we will explain our topic from them , then we will analyzes the child
burials practices examples and finally we will present the most important results .
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The Greco-Roman parents and societies valued children and take cared for them,
once children were born, they would not be given a name until 8 or 9 days after their
birth. After the days have past, the child would be gifted a name and a bulla during
a ceremony. when a child reached the age of 1, they would gain legal privileges
which could lead to citizenship. And they would often have a variety of toys to play
with. Although all this careful the death rate for children was very high. Some
estimate that less than half of children born survived to age fifteen. There are a lot
of examples mention to the death of child such as; one in the first-century, Quintilian,
lost both of his sons at a young age, Plutarch, also suffered the loss of his three-year-
old daughter. from those examples we can see how they communicate deep grief
over child illnesses and death.
So we will mention in next slid to child burials which excavated in Egypt thought
the different periods

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The oldest child grave excavated in Egypt. That one was discovered in 1994 at
Taramsa Hill (near Qena in Upper Egypt, located near the modern site of the temple
of Hathor at Dendara). It contained the skeleton of a child between 8 : 10 years,
buried about 55,000 years ago (Middle Paleolithic age).
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The pre-dynastic period provided us with cemeteries intended for the children. This
was found at Adaima (8km south of Esna) that contains 60 graves. Gives us a
varieties of child burial such as ; The children were buried in pits, placed in pottery
jars and inside the coffins.

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The Old Kingdom provided us with four infants found inside Amphorae in the
mastaba of Ima-Pepi at the village of Balat in the Dakhla Oasis (cemetery of Qila
El-Daba) , Such burials were also found at Abydos and date back to the first
intermediate period – Middle kingdom. The burials were found in pots, from new
kingdom we have two female mummies were found buried inside the tomb of
Tutankhamun .
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AS we know Alexandria was founded in 332 B.C by Alexander the Great , It became
an important center of Hellenistic civilization and remained the capital of Ptolemaic
Egypt and Roman and Byzantine Egypt for almost 1,000 years.

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According to the city's planning, cemeteries are located outside its walls,
one on the western side was dedicated to the burial of the Egyptians who lived in the
city.
and the other on the eastern side was intended for the burial of foreigners.
Now we will mention to the previous child burial excavated on these cemeteries.

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Start with western cemetery in 1997, 81 Infant burials were found in the cemetery
of Gabbari at Alexandria. 13 burials date back to the Hellenistic period while the rest
(68 burials) date back to the Late Roman period.

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The recently study talking about child burials in eastern cemetery excavation which
it was published on L’Enfant et la mort dans antiquté in 2012 by Amera Saber and
Patrice George, present Kafr Abo Site, where 30 child burials date back the late
Roman Had been discovered.

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On this lecture we will focus on some examples from four sites(Zankalony-Haddad-
Khiat and Sport ) discovered on eastern cemetery during the salvage excavation
which take place as a progress to build new local project
Those sites included 34 child burial ,8 burials date back to the Hellenistic period
while the rest (26 burials) date back to the Late Roman period.
Contains 18 infant,7 child and 9 Adolescent

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In this part we will analyzes the child burial practices examples which appear on
those sites such as; Type of Grave, Body treatment, Body Position, Coffin and
grave Goods.
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About type of grave, 26\34 child burials were discovered in Simple pit with different
shapes ,for example Oval and Rectangular pits which were excavated 2021 in sport
site .
The dating of this type of grave depended on context, because it’s very common
grave type appeared on different periods.

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In this sample we have only one example represent the cist tomb, which was
discovered on Zankalony site 2015 . contain burial of child aged to 3-5 yrs.
Cist Tomb is a small stone built like box , usually Date back to Roman period.

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The last type of child burial grave is loculus cut into rock, on those example we can
see this type so clear , we have 7\34 burial with Loculus 6 of them closed by slabs
with inscription date back Hellenistic period while the rest one reusing on roman
period.

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Now we turn on the second practices which related to the child body treatment,
The method of treatment is important for given the different concepts of the
afterlife between the Greeks and the Egyptians.
With our sample we recorded three method of body treatment ; inhumation with
88%, cremation3% and mummification 9%.

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Around 22\34 burial recorded with inhumation treatment even it was in pits like the
example of Zankalony 2015 or inside Amphora as we can see in Example from Khiat
2019

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The second treatment is Cremation, this treatment is totally Greek , in this
treatment the remains of bodies cremated on pyres, were collected and placed in
terracotta hydria by order from skull to feet . we have only one example from
Haddad site .
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The last method we were recorded with child burial was mummification, we have
5\34 child burial mummified, in this example from Zankalony site we have burial
for child, cover with black material, and there are a few remains of textile. After IR
analysis we confirm that the black material was a juniper resin which they used by
injecting the body without remove entrails, and the textile was a linen. From this
evidence we confirm one of mummification method which has been recorded by
Strabo its Mummification by injecting body with resin.

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By talking about general position of body, we can say that almost child have an
extended position except one burial from Zankalony lying on left side and anther
one from Haddad lying on the chest of adult burial.

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As for the head orientation, there are different directions were recorded, such as
heading towards the west or the chin on the chest. for the hand placement , they are
often on the pelvis, while they also appear beside fumer , and there is also a hand
holding another, as in the example from Khiat 2019 , The feet were often extended
or one over one

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For protected the body of child they put it inside Amphora, as we said before this
type of coffin noted from predynastic period, and here we can see different type of
Amphora used as coffin in Khiat site 2019. Date back to late roman period .

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Lets move on the last part in this lecture , it’s grave goods and start with Coins, the
coins has especial role in the ritual of Charon's obol , it is an allusive term for
the coin placed inside the mouth of a dead person before burial. Greek and Latin
literary sources specify the coin as an obol, and explain it as a payment for Charon,
the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living
from the world of the dead.
In this example we can see the child burial inside amphora placed coin on his mouth
from Khiat site .
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Here we mention to Haddad site slabs which closed loculus and included an
inscription currying the name of dead person and some word to protect and pray to
be peace in the afterlife

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Also we have different kind of artifacts which discovered with child burials such as
earing , bracelet, neckless and pottery flask

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To reach the results, these three graphs are presented to us: the rate- age at death, the
types of cemeteries, and the body treatment methods for the burials of children in
the study sample. Through all of the above, we can say that:
- The death-rate was highest of all in the first few days, usually the dead
children were those who were weak or sick or had congenital defects and
deformities, The primary study that were done on this sample, dents, and
tissues indicated evidences of congenital conditions Porotic hyperostosis,
nonspecific infection, dental pathology, and trauma.
- The researcher notices also that the children above one year died more
frequently in the Graeco-Roman era. The reason could be related to the change
occurred in the state; during the Pharaonic period the economical and the
medical status was secured, while in the Graeco-Roman period, the country
passed through many revolutions and wars that affected the status of the
country and led to poverty.
- the poverty could affect the ability of the family to secure enough food for
their children. This of course led to the increase in the death-rate of the
children.

Finally, I hope this study growing up to know more information about Child
burials in Ancient Alexandria .

Now, let me thank everyone who was credited with producing this study. At the
begging, I would like to thank the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Egypt for
giving me the opportunity to talk about this work. also I would like to thank all the
team working on these excavations, and a special thanks to my Professor Marie
Dominique Nana for her guidance and help, also I thank you all for attend, I will be
happy to receive any questions now or later through these links. Thank you