Two babies buried face to face 2,000 years ago: the mystery that shocks archaeologists

Two Roman-era babies found buried together in Croatia appear to have died from the adverse effects of having a malnourished mother who may have been suffering from lead poisoning.

That’s the verdict of a study published recently in the Journal of Archaeological Science, after an international team of researchers spent seven years looking into the unusual, 2,000-year-old double discovery.

Buried facing each other within a single grave, the babies were “likely loved and welcomed” by their family, the archaeologists said.

“One of very few double burials”

The infants were found in 2016 in the Croatian city Trogir, known during the Roman period as Tragurium. In the middle of the first century BCE, Tragurium became part of the Roman province Illyricum, later called Dalmatia.

Identified as twins - a boy and a girl - the babies had been buried in a cemetery that was discovered a decade ago during construction work on a parking lot.

Speaking to McClatchy News, study author Anna Osterholtz, a bioarchaeologist at Mississippi State University, explained: “This burial was found in a portion of the community cemetery that seems to have been set aside for individuals who died very young.

“It is one of very few double burials known in Croatia and in this cemetery in particular and is the only double burial of very young individuals in the cemetery.”

Babies no more than weeks old

Writing in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the researchers placed the twins’ age at “between birth and 2 months”, noting: “Their burial together suggests that they died at the same time or very nearly together.”

The babies are believed to have been interred at some point between the late first century and the end of the second century CE.

Evidence of vitamin deficiencies

By conducting an osteobiographical analysis of the babies - in other words, building a life history of the individuals by studying their skeletal remains - the team of scientists found evidence of malnourishment in mother and children.

“The very young (under 6 months of age) have an additional ability to elucidate the health status of their mothers as their nutrition is maternally derived either through the placenta or via breastmilk,” the researchers wrote.

They say they found signs of scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, and rickets, a condition that normally results from vitamin D deficiency.

The twins’ mother is believed to have been “so nutritionally stressed that she was unable to transmit sufficient nutrients to the developing fetuses”, reads the Journal of Archaeological Science paper.

“They survived throughout the pregnancy and possibly for a short time after birth, but were likely unable to overcome the birth trauma and died around the time of birth or shortly afterward.”

Was lead poisoning involved?

Lead poisoning, which has been associated with higher rates of miscarriage, stillbirth and infant mortality, may also have played a role in the twins’ death, the study says.

“Lead exposure on the part of the mother is transmitted through the placenta to the fetus and later through breast milk to the infant which may start to display pathological changes,” the researchers explain.

They note that lead, a naturally-occurring metal with toxic properties, was “widely used” in the Roman era. Indeed, its prominent everyday role during the period has even sparked suggestions that rampant lead poisoning was a contributory factor in the downfall of the Roman Empire.

“Plumbing pipes were made of lead, [and] lead-lined ceramics were used to produce sapa, used to sweeten wine and to preserve fruits,” the scientists say.

“Lead-based paints were commonly used in particularly upper-class structures, and sheet-lead toys have been recovered from sites across the Roman Empire.”

According to the World Health Organization, lead exposure during pregnancy can cause “reduced fetal growth”. The body adds that the metal “can severely damage the brain and central nervous system” of the very young.

“Care expended in placing the burials”

Whatever the precise circumstances of the babies’ death, there is evidence of the grief this may have caused.

“Though it is possibly extending modern sentiments into the past, their burial posture suggests to us that care was expended in placing the burials, that they were loved and would be missed in their family,” the researchers say.

“The image of the two infant twins, likely loved and welcomed by their families dying at or close to birth, is a poignant one.”

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