Infanticide in Roman Britain: A critical review of the osteological evidence

Infanticide ‐ the killing of infants ‐ is a practice that has existed in many societies throughout history. A range of textual sources attest to the practice of infanticide in the Roman Empire and it has been claimed that the presence of a pronounced peak in mortality around the time of birth in Romano-British perinates provides archaeological evidence of the practice. This paper presents a review of the osteological evidence for infanticide in Roman Britain via a case study of infant death and burial in Late Roman Winchester, Hampshire, England.