ABSTRACT
Since the inception of the bioarchaeological approach, its application to studies of past children has been influenced and hampered by a number of practical and theoretical factors including the physical exclusion of children from ancient cemeteries, poor preservation, and the neglect of excavators to retain skeletal remains from archaeological contexts. In this chapter we present demographic, palaeopathological, dietary, and mortuary data from case studies throughout Italy, Greece, and Egypt that explore the roles, representations, and conditions of children within these different regions and periods. Results from these studies demonstrate broad diversity in the lives of juveniles throughout these historical and ecological contexts and show the inherent value of bioarchaeological approaches to the study of childhood in Greco-Roman antiquity.
