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A UAB study in collaboration with the UVic-UCC and the ALBA synchrotron concludes that the Iberian culture newborns buried within domestic spaces died of natural causes, such as complications during labor or premature births, and not due to ritual practices.

Researchers applied an innovative methodology, based on the study of the neonatal line of baby teeth using optic microscopy and microflourescence with synchrotron light, to analyze the teeth from 45 infant skeletal remains and precisely identified the moments of both birth and death.

The Iberian culture inhabited the eastern and southern coastal regions of the Iberian Peninsula during the Iron Age (8th to 1st centuries BCE). The most common funeral ritual of the Iberians was the cremation of the deceased and subsequent disposal of the remains in urns that were buried in necropolises.

However, archaeologists have also discovered burials with remains of newborns who had not been cremated, but were rather located in areas used for housing or production purposes. These burials have generated controversy among experts. Hypotheses suggested that they could have died of natural causes, be proof of infanticide, or even of ritual sacrifices.

The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, now provides very precise evidence in favor of the hypothesis that these newborn infants died mainly from natural causes and that, therefore, are a reflection of the high infant mortality during the first year of life in the period studied.

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