Childhood trauma in the archaeological record

Childhood trauma is an important class of pathology that is only occasionally discussed in the anthropological literature. As palaeopathologists, we usually analyse archaeological collections that consist of adult skeletons presenting healed injuries, with no real clues as to the timing of the associated traumatic events. We believe that with certain types of trauma, it maybe possible to determine if the injury was acquired during childhood. Clinical data show that evidence for childhood trauma is documented in unique patterns of injury that target particular bones, segments of bones, leading to changes in the orientation or alignment of bones. This presentation provides examples of two types of trauma found in an ossuary population from Ontario, Canada. On the basis of the skeletal evidence and clinical data, childhood trauma may be inferred for each example. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.