Tyragetia (Nov 2018)
Sarmatian children graves in Wallachia and Moldavia
Abstract
The studies on the social organization of the Sarmatians are still very few. The aim of this paper is to analyze children graves, in an attempt to complete, as much as possible based on the current archaeological data, the image of the Sarmatian communities in Wallachia and Moldavia, outlined in several previous studies. The discussion will be limited to only one case study – that of the Sarmatian children burials in Wallachia (territory between the Danube and the Carpathian Mountains, bordered to the west by the Olt River) and Moldavia (more precisely the area between the Prut River and the Carpathian Mountains). After an overview of Sarmatian discoveries in Wallachia or Moldavia (emphasizing the presence or the absence of anthropological analysis), the author tries to outline the image, as shown by the age ratio, of some Sarmatian grave clusters. The analysis of the funerary ritual and inventory of the 65 children burials attributed to the Sarmatians in Wallachia and Moldavia led to the general conclusion that, speaking strictly from a funerary point of view, the children do not benefit of special funerary rules by comparison to the adults. The same funerary ritual characterizes both adults and children – the inhumation, there are no orientations or positions for depositing the body that can be found only in the case of children and the inventory did not contain items that could be considered as specific to the childhood universe.
