Bones of a Hundred Infants Found In Ashkelon Sewer:
- Patricia Smith and Gila Kahila,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Biblical Archaeology Review:

"Excavation of the Roman-Byzantine sewer system assiciated with the
bathhouse at Ashkelon revealed the skeletons of nearly 100 infants.
They were found mixed in with the garbage more commonly associated
wit such contexts-broken potsherds, animal bones, murex shells and
odd coins.  Most of the infant bones were intact, and all parts of
the skeleton were represented.  Since infant bones are fragile,
they tend to fragment when distrubed or moved for secondary burial.
the good condition of the infant bones at Ashkelon indicate to us
tht the infants had been tossed onto the drain soon after death
with the soft tissues intact.  This manner of disposal of the
infants indicates a rather callous attitude, suggesting that these
might represent abortions or infanticide, rather than death from
natural causes.

We focused closely on the age range of the infants as one
indication of the cause of death.  the rationale for using age
range as an indicator of the cuase of death is that perinatal death
in all populations studied shows a comparable pattern of mortality.
There is a high rate of mortality in the first month of life that
gradually decreases over the first year, followed by a second peak
at weaning.  If the drain served as a mass grave following some
catastrophe, or was the normal way of disposing of infants who died
when young and were not accorded full burial rites, then we should
expect some variability in the age of death of the infants in the
drain.  If on the other hand, these infant skeletons were the
result of infanticide practiced immediately after birth, all would
be of the same age.

Examination of the Ashkelon sample showed that all the infants were
approximately the same size and with the same degree of dental
development.  Both bone size and dental development were equivalent
to that of newborn infants.  Moreover, forensic tests showed no
neonatal lines in the teeth.  These are considered evidence of
survival of more than three days after birth.  Their absence in the
Ashkelon infants reinforces the hypothesis of death at birth.

A sudden increase in the number of deaths which would result in
emergency burial measures, such as have been documented following
eqidemics, warfare or famine, would affect children of all ages.
This does not apply to the skeletons found in the Ashkelon sewer,
where only newborns were found.  Infanticide in the past (as at
present) was (and is) usually carried out immediately after birth,
before the development of mother-infant bonding.  Child sacrifices,
on the other hand, were usually made periodically, so that infants
of different ages were sacrificed.  While it is conceivable that
the infants found in the drain were stillborn, their number, age
and condition strongly suggest that they were killed and thrown
into the drain immediately after birth."

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