Mortuary Behaviour in Subadults: Children as Social Actors in the Hunter- Gatherer Societies of Argentine Pampas

Abstract

Children are scarcely represented in the prehistoric burial sites of highly mobile hunter-gatherers. Despite this situation, their visibility and presence in the archaeological record is highly significant for the understanding of patterns of residence, life ways, social hierarchies and mortality profiles. This issue is particularly important when considering their representation in cemeteries and associated mortuary behaviours. The Chenque I site is a prehispanic cemetery from Western Pampas in Argentina, where subadults are highly represented. In this paper, several archaeological topics are discussed from different analytical perspectives, including social hierarchies, mortality patterns and the social role of children in these groups. The representations of childhood in multiple burials, in which the cause of death was clearly related to interpersonal violence, are also analysed. Despite their biologically immaturity, it would appear to be the case that pubertal juveniles played active and important social roles in war and conflict during the Final Late Holocene in the Centre of Argentina.