Infant Burials and Coastal Communities in Italy and the Mediterranean between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

This article explores a specific funeral rite – the so-called enchytrismos burials, better known as amphora burials – which, despite boasting an older tradition, has been insufficiently examined for the period stretching from the fifth to seventh century. There are two recurring elements related to this type of burial: the prevalence of new-born infants amongst the dead interred in this fashion and the adoption of this rite amongst coastal communities in Italy, and throughout the whole western Mediterranean area. By building on the concepts of childhood on the one hand and maritime culture on the other, this article argues for a link through the shared attitude towards children demonstrated by different ethnic, religious and political communities, at least in the funerary dimension, and to the circulation of practices and beliefs in a broader geographical context well beyond the traditional periodization imposed by historiography