‘Archaeologia Polona XXVIT, 1988 PL ISSN 0066-5928 KATARZYNA CZARNECKA AGE-RELATED CHANGES OF SOCIAL STATUS. AN ATTEMPT AT RECONSTRUCTION BASED ON THE PRZEWORSK CULTURE CEMETERIES WITH ANTHROPOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS When the reconstruction of social structure in prehistoric societies is attempted on the basis of cemeteries, there is always the assumption that the amount and type of grave goods and the type of burial reflect the social status of the dead person. This is a correct assumption, but one must take into account the possibility that relationships among the living will be reflected indirectly. The rules determining how the dead are equipped also depend on religious beliefs, customs, the law of inheritance and certain specific circumstances of death.! In the reconstruction of social relationships based on differences in the form and richness of grave goods, there are additional inaccuracies if the age and sex of the dead person are not taken into account. The efforts underta- ken so far to reconstruct the social structure of the Przeworsk culture peoples (K. Godtowski 1960; A. Kietlifska 1963) have not taken into consideration the demographic structure of the group, though A. Kietlifiska noted the significance of division according to sex. The possibility of utilizing such additional information has only recently appeared as the result of progress in the anthropological studies of osteological material from cinerary graves. It is now possible to determine the sex and age of individuals buried in these graves. Some Polish anthropologists have also contributed to studies in this area; in the 1970's they carried out research and conducted experi- ments on the basis of which the principles and methods of determining burnt bones were formulated (J. Gladykowska-Rzeczycka 1971; J. Strzalko, J. Piontek, A. Malinowski 1973; J. Strzatko, J. Piontek, A. Malinowski 1974; J. Gladykowska-Rzeczycka 1974; J. Strzalko, M. Henneberg 1975; M. Henne- berg, J. Ostoja-Zagorski, J. Piontek, J. Strzatko 1975; J. Piontek 1976). In recent years the number of cemeteries where the remains of the dead have been distinguished anthropologically, has greatly increased. This has also 1 1990 Ossolineum Zaklad Natodowy im, Ossolisshich - Wydawnierwo, Wroclaw124 KATARZYNA CZARNECKA enabled new information on age and sex to be added to material concerning the social relationships in the Przeworsk culture. On the basis of osteological material we can determine fairly precisely the age of a dead person; determining sex is more difficult. The reliability of burnt bone analyses is much smaller in the case of sex than in the case of age, as a skeleton shows only secondary sexual features (J. Strzatko, M Henneberg 1973, p. 105). Only certain fragments of the skeleton are impor- tant for diagnostic studies, eg. the skull and, especially, the pelvis. Unfortuna- tely, these parts are not always preserved-in cinerary graves from the Roman period, where the bone material is usually very burnt and largely dispersed. Often the sex is determined only on the basis of the massiveness or delicacy of certain skeletal features, but this can be misleading.? The probability of correct determination of sex depends on how well the bone material has been preserved and on the degree to which sexual features have been marked on the skeleton. Therefore, when using anthropological determination one must take into account the possibility of mistakes. K. Godtowski (1974, p. 68) quite rightly pointed out that in those cases where archaeological markers and anthropological determination of sex differ, the archaeological criterium should be considered more trustworthy. Nevertheless, anthropological deter- mination of sex is very useful in the case of graves with non-characteristic grave goods. When attempting to reconstruct social relations, anthropological determi- nations of age are of greater importance, especially as their reliability is much greater than in the case of sex and, moreover, age cannot be determi- ned archaeologically. Evolutionary and involutionary changes leave their mark on the skeleton, allowing age to be defined fairly accurately. In the case of children even with an accuracy of 2-3 years, while for adults age can be defined to within a decade. In this work the following division into age groups has been adopted: infans I 0-7 years, infans Il 7-14, juvenis 14-20 years, adultus 20-30 years, maturus 30-50 years and senilis above 50. Such a division. is quite sufficient for studies of changes in social status connected with the transition to successive classes of age, since in preliterate societies and, even in many which knew writing and the calendar, age was not counted in years. Natural, biological turning points, connected with stages of development, were more important. These stages of development have been studied for people of the Prze- worsk culture, on the basis of cemeteries with anthropologically distinguished osteological material (K. Czarnecka, in the press). Most of the materials have been published; their list is given in Table I. Altogether, there are 865 anthropologically distinguished graves in which 985 individuals were buried. The structure of age and sex is given in Table I. The dependence of grave goods on the sex and on the age of the dead person, determined within the given age groups, was examined. The types and sets of objects characteristic for each age group were determined, also how many graves in each groupAGE-RELATED CHANGES OF SOCIAL STATUS 125 were richly and how many poorly furnished. The so-called “chieftain” graves had to be excluded as they have not been studied anthropologically. Among the written sources used to interpret the result of studies, the most important was Germania by P. Cornelius Tacitus, a work which afforded much valuable information on the life and customs of the barbarian tribes of “Germania libera”, even though they concern the first century AD. Getica by Jordanes was also used and some information concerning the relation between social status and age was taken from the works of ancient philosophers and physicians and Roman law, compiled by W. Suder (1977). Ethnographic comparisons were also made use of. Both biological and social turning points are especially numerous and evident in the early part of life. The first of these points is the fact of birth following the embryonic stage, then the transition from infancy to early childhood, when the child gains a certain degree of self-sufficiency. This stage is easily distinguished on the skeleton because of the clearly defined phases of bone and teeth formation. Therefore, if the osteological material is well preserved, it is possible to determine age to even within 1-2 years. In the earliest period the first important social events take place, the first ritual of passage, the acceptance of the newly born into the social group. Ties become established between the child and the other members of the group, which will last for the rest of its life. The time of this ritual differs in different societies, from the period just after birth to the end of breast feeding or the moment when a child begins to walk (Z. Sokolewicz 1974, p. 116). In medieval Scandinavia, in the Viking period, the father’s decision to recognize his child was taken straight after birth. Killing a child which had sucked its mother’s breast even once was punishable (F. G. Foote, D. M. Wilson 1975, p. 128). Children who had not been recognized by their parents, and therefore by the social group, died, and, probably, had no right to a separate burial. The custom of deserting or killing unwanted children, especially crippled or illegitimate ones, is well known from ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Scandinavia, and numerous contemporary primitive societies, espe- cially those living in ecologically difficult conditions (M. Mauss 1973, p. 670; J. Strzatko, M. Henneberg, J. Piontek 1976, p. 99). All the more surprising, therefore, is the text in Germania by Tacitus concerning attitudes towards children: It is considered a shameful act to limit the number of children or to kill a child born late (Tac. Germ. 19 “numerum liberorum finire aut quemquam ex agnatis necare flagitium habetur”). This can hardly be true, as the fight to abandon an unrecognized child probably did exist among the tribes descri- bed in Germania. In the Przeworsk culture cemeteries there are only 14 graves which have been anthropologically distinguished as the burials of newly born babies or of infants. This figure should probably be higher, as in many cases those bone fragments which would be most helpful for diagnosis were lacking, and only general statements could be made. In the case of burials which could