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1 results

  • The life and death of cremated infants and children from the Neo-Punic tophet at Zita, Tunisia

  • Part of
  • Jessica I. Cerezo-Román, Brett Kaufman, Glenys McGowan, Ali Drine, Thomas R. Fenn, Hans Barnard, Rayed Khedher, Sami Ben Tahar, Stacy Edington, Elyssa Jerray, Megan Daniels
  • Journal:
    Antiquity / Volume 98 / Issue 400 / August 2024
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    12 September 2024, pp. 936-953
    Print publication:
    August 2024
    • Article
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  • Tophets are Phoenician and Punic sanctuaries where cremated infants and children were buried. Many studies focus on the potentially sacrificial nature of these sites, but this article takes a different approach. Combining osteological analysis with a consideration of the archaeological and wider cultural context, the authors explore the short life-courses and mortuary treatments of 12 individuals in the tophet at the Neo-Punic site of Zita, Tunisia. While osteological evidence suggests life at Zita was hard, and systemic health problems may have contributed to the deaths of these individuals, their mortuary rites were attended to with care and without concrete indication of sacrifice.