Bone spoons for prehistoric babies: Detection of human teeth marks on the Neolithic artefacts from the site Grad-Starčevo (Serbia)(Article)(Open Access)
- aBioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
- bLaboratory for Bioarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- cDentistry Clinic of Vojvodina, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
- dFaculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
- eNational Museum in Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Abstract
Around 8000 years ago, throughout the Neolithic world a new type of artefact appeared, small spoons masterly made from cattle bone, usually interpreted as tools, due to their intensive traces of use. Contrary to those interpretations, the small dimensions of spoons and presence of intensive traces of use led us to the assumption that they were used for feeding babies. In order to test that assumption we compared 2230 marks on three spoons from the Neolithic site of Grad-Starčevo in Serbia (5800-5450 cal BC) with 3151 primary teeth marks produced experimentally. This study has shown that some of the marks on spoons were made by primary teeth, which indicate their usage in feeding babies. The production of a new type of artefact to feed babies is probably related to the appearance of a new type of weaning food, and the abundance of spoons indicates that new baby gruels became an important innovation in prehistoric baby-care. Copyright: © 2019 Stefanović et al.
Indexed keywords
| EMTREE medical terms: | articleartifactbonedeciduous toothfeedinghumaninfantNeolithicSerbiaweaninganatomy and histologyanimalbonebovinegeographyhistoryradiometric datingSerbiatime factortooth |
|---|---|
| MeSH: | AnimalsArtifactsBone and BonesCattleGeographyHistory, AncientHumansRadiometric DatingSerbiaTime FactorsTooth |
Funding details
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | 640557 | H2020 |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | H2020 | |
| European Research Council | ERC |
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1
This research is a result of the Project 'BIRTH: Births, mothers and babies: prehistoric fertility in the Balkans between 10,000-5000 BC', funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 640557; Principal Investigator: S.S.), https://erc. europa.eu/.
- ISSN: 19326203
- CODEN: POLNC
- Source Type: Journal
- Original language: English
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225713
- PubMed ID: 31856238
- Document Type: Article
- Publisher: Public Library of Science
Stefanović, S.; BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia;
© Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
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