ABSTRACT
Infanticide is the killing of unwanted babies. It is generally carried out at or soon after birth and has been practised on all continents and at every level of social complexity from hunter-gatherer to urbanised industrial societies (Williamson 1978). The practice of infanticide in earlier human groups has been much studied by those working with historical sources (e.g. Brown 1991; Harris 1982, 1994; Coleman 1976; Kellum 1974; Hoffer and Hull 1981; Jackson 1996), but it is only recently that it has commanded significant attention from archaeologists. This increased interest on behalf of the archaeological community may to some extent reflect recent methodological innovations which have facilitated the recognition of infanticide in the archaeological record. However, it may also be viewed as part of a more general trend within archaeology toward the study of groups in earlier societies upon which little attention has hitherto been lavished. One manifestation of this trend is the rise of the archaeology of gender (e.g. Gero and Conkey 1991; Moore and Scott 1997; Gilchrist 1997). Another is the interest which has lately been shown in the study of children and childhood in the past (e.g. Sofaer Derevenski 1994; Moore and Scott 1997). The recent interest in infanticide can be seen as a corollary of this latter, as its study clearly has a major role to play in the archaeology of childhood. In addition, infanticide is, as we shall see, very often an act perpetrated by women. Furthermore, in some societies female babies are more often its victims. Therefore, its study may also be seen in terms of recent interest in the archaeology of gender (which, in practice, means the archaeology of women).
