57Arheološki vestnik 76, 2025, 57–112; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/AV.76.11; CC BY-SA 4.0
Izvleček
Grobišče latenske kulture v Zvonimirovem na severu Hrvaške je trenutno edino sistematično raziskano, ki ga je 
mogoče datirati v srednji laten (LT C2). Dosedanje raziskave so se osredotočale na grobove bojevnikov z orožjem ter 
grobove žensk z deli noše in nakitom. Rezultati antropološke analize kažejo, da so na grobišču pokopavali tudi otroke, 
mlajše od 14 let. Pokopani so bili tako kot odrasli člani skupnosti, največkrat samostojno, v nekaj grobovih pa skupaj 
z odraslim. V otroških grobovih je bilo v večini primerov manj najdb kot v grobovih odraslih, vendar so bili odkriti 
tudi bogatejši otroški grobovi. V njih so poleg keramičnih posod še deli noše in nakit, le izjemoma se pojavlja orožje. 
Podobne značilnosti otroških grobov so bile opažene tudi pri analizah latenskih grobišč v Karpatski kotlini, kar kaže na 
položaj otrok v mlajšeželeznodobnih skupnostih.
Ključne besede: grobišče; Zvonimirovo; otroci; starost; latenska kultura; način pokopa; identiteta
Abstract
The cemetery of Zvonimirovo is currently the only systematically researched cemetery of the La Tène culture in 
northern Croatia that can be dated to the Middle La Tène period (LT C2). Previous research studies were focused on 
richly equipped graves of warriors with weapons and of women with costume and jewellery items. The results of the 
anthropological analysis indicate that children under 14 years of age were also buried at the cemetery and received the 
same mortuary treatment as the adult members of the community. Children were most often buried alone, as the only 
deceased in the grave, but a smaller number of graves contains a child with an adult. The study of mortuary profiles of 
children’s graves indicates that the majority of them contained fewer finds than the graves of adults, but some of them 
were richly equipped. Aside from pottery, children’s graves contained costume and jewellery items, with weaponry 
appearing exceptionally. Similar mortuary profiles of children’s graves have been documented in the analyses of La Tène 
cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin, indicating their position in the Late Iron Age communities.
Keywords: cemetery; Zvonimirovo; children; age; La Tène culture; mortuary treatment and profiles; identity
Children’s graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery
of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču
v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
Marko DIZDAR
The Zvonimirovo cemetery in central Drava val-
ley is currently the only systematically researched 
cemetery of the La Tène culture in northern Croatia.1 
Excavations undertaken intermittently from 1993 
1  This article was funded by the Croatian Science Foun-
dation with the project (RP 2019-04-2520): Childhood in 
Protohistory in Southern Carpathian Basin (ARHKIDS).
to 2019, spanning an area of 3,968 m2, uncovered 
130 cremation graves. All the graves except one 
are dated to the Middle La Tène (LT C2) period, 
ranging from the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries 
BC to the beginning of the second half of the 2nd 
century BC. Previous research primarily focused on 
male graves with weapons and female graves with 
various costume and jewellery items (Majnarić-
58 Marko DIZDAR
Pandžić 2001; Dizdar 2013; 2016; 2020a; Dizdar 
et al. 2014; Dizdar, Ljuština 2019). Although only 
a small number of graves have been published 
so far, the results of the anthropological analysis 
indicate that the cemetery includes all age groups, 
including children. In this instance, the bioar-
chaeological analysis encompassed the mortuary 
profiles of graves containing the cremated remains 
of children up to the age of 14 at the moment of 
death, for which a range of contextual datasets 
was collected – child data and data child (Sofaer 
Dervenski 2000). Additionally, the bioarchaeologi-
cal analysis included adolescents aged 15 to 20 in 
order to discern differences in the identity and 
status of youth in the community, as suggested 
by previous analyses of the Zvonimirovo cemetery 
(Dizdar 2013, 40–42; 2020a).
Considering that results of the anthropologi-
cal analysis are often lacking for the investigated 
cemeteries of the La Tène culture in the neigh-
bouring areas (the southeastern Carpathian Basin 
inhabited by the Scordisci2 and the southeastern 
2  For the largest Scordiscan cemeteries, such as Kara-
burma (Todorović 1972) or Osijek (Spajić 1954; 1956; 
1962), no anthropological analyses have been conducted, 
while the data for the Pećine cemetery is only available 
for inhumation graves (Jovanović 2018). At the Late La 
Fig. 1: Distribution of La Tène cemeteries with children’s graves in the Carpathian Basin.
Sl. 1: Grobišča latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini z otroškimi grobovi.
1 – Zvonimirovo; 2 – Brežice; 3 – Dobova; 4 – Novo Mesto; 5 – Slatina; 6 – Nova Tabla; 7 – Pećine; 8 – Mokranjske stene; 
9 – Ménfőcsanak; 10 – Hévíz; 11 – Keszthely; 12 – Magyarszerdahely; 13 – Rezi; 14 – Borsosgyőrből; 15 – Bucsu; 16 – 
Gencsapáti; 17 – Tatabánya; 18 – Dunaalmás; 19 – Hegyfalu; 20 – Kóny; 21 – Ács; 22 – Tolna-Mözs; 23 – Ordacsehi; 24 – 
Zichyújfaluról; 25 – Kölesd; 26 – Budapest / Budimpešta; 27 – Jászberėny; 28 – Mátraszőlős; 29 – Tiszavasvári; 30 – Ludas; 
31 – Sajópetri; 32 – Vác; 33 – Muhi; 34 – Hejőkeresztúr; 35 – Ebes; 36 – Hajdúszoboszló; 37 – Ciumeşti; 38 – Fântânele; 
39 – Sâncrai; 40 – Bučany; 41 – Dubník; 42 – Maňa; 43 – Malé Kosihy; 44 – Horný Jatov; 45 – Hurbanovo; 46 – Dvory 
Nad Žitavou II; 47 – Holiare; 48 – Kamenín; 49 – Chotín I; 50 – Bajč; 51 – Nytra; 52 – Nebojsa; 53 – Svätý Peter; 54 – 
Palárikovo I; 55 – Pottenbrun; 56 – Franzhausen; 57 – Inzersdorf; 58 – Oberndorf; 59 – Walpersdorf; 60 – Pöttsching; 61 
– Herzogenburg; 62 – Ossarn; 63 – Kuffern; 64 – Au; 65 – Guntramsdorf; 66 – Petronell; 67 – Rassing; 68 – Mannersdorf; 
69 – Göttlesbrunn; 70 – Lang.
59Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
Alpine region and southwestern Pannonia inhab-
ited by the Taurisci3), the children’s graves from 
the Zvonimirovo cemetery are associated with the 
results of bioarchaeological analyses conducted at 
La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin (Fig. 
1). These cemeteries include inhumation and 
cremation graves of children as a recognizable 
social group; the data has been collected from all 
available documented mortuary profiles. Again, 
it can be seen that the children’s graves at the 
cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin were rarely 
the subject of specific research, often involving 
datasets about mortuary treatment and profiles 
(Ramsl 2010, Tab. 1; Rustoiu 2016a; Bujna 2019; 
Ramsl, Nowotny 2020). The only recent study of 
children’s graves in the area of the Eastern Alps 
stands out (Mauthner 2023). A similar situation 
is observed in other areas of the La Tène culture 
in central Europe and other regions during the 
Late Iron Age (e.g. Endlich 1998; Kraus 2002; 
2006; Tibbetts 2008). Detailed analyses have been 
made only for children’s graves from particular 
cemeteries in Switzerland, notably for the burials 
of children in the Basel – Gasfabrik settlement 
and its two associated cemeteries (Rissanen, Al-
der 2011; Pichler et al. 2012; Rissanen et al. 2013; 
Pichler et al. 2013; 2015; 2017; Brönnimann et 
al. 2022). Other extensively analysed children’s 
graves include those from the cemeteries of Bern 
– Reichenbachstrasse (Jud, Ulrich-Bochsler 2014) 
and Ipsach (Zweifel 2015).
The children’s graves from the Zvonimirovo 
cemetery will be compared with the results of 
published bioarchaeological analyses of the La 
Tène culture cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin, 
Tène cremation cemetery of Vajuga – Pesak in Iron Gates 
(Đerdap), 13 graves were discovered, with two of them 
recorded as containing children of the Infans I group. A 
small pot and a bowl covered by a large footed bowl served 
as urns (Popović 1991, Fig. 6: 3). Additionally, the site of 
Mokranjske Stene near Negotin in northeastern Serbia 
included the inhumation grave of a child aged around 1.5 
years. This grave contained six vessels, with metal objects 
placed on top. The grave is dated to the Late La Tène, 
with parallels in southwestern Romania and northeastern 
Bulgaria (Popović, Kapuran 2011; Kapuran 2016, 203–204, 
Fig. 9–10; 2018, 86, Fig. 10).
3  For the largest cemeteries of the Taurisci, especially 
the one at Kapiteljska Njiva in Novo Mesto with more than 
750 discovered graves (Križ 2005), anthropological data 
is also lacking. They are partially known for the cemeter-
ies in Dobova and Brežice, but the majority of children’s 
graves do not have complete data on the finds (Guštin 
1984; Jovanović 2007; Hincak, Guštin 2011).
where graves of children of all age groups have 
also been identified. However, despite the large 
number of investigated cemeteries, most of them 
have a small number of graves, while only a few are 
larger and have well-documented bioarchaeological 
datasets. In these cemeteries, both inhumation and 
cremation graves have been documented, which 
subsequently influenced the implementation of 
anthropological analyses, which were much more 
common for inhumation graves, especially at the 
cemeteries investigated from the 1950s to the 1970s 
(Fig. 1). Also, a comprehensive bioarchaeological 
analysis of children’s graves from cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin requires not only anthropologi-
cal data, but also contextual data and mortuary 
profiles with datasets, which is often not the case 
for various reasons. Some cemeteries investigated 
in Hungary have anthropological data, but no 
archaeological context – for example, a part of 
the Ménfőcsanak cemetery, and the cemeteries of 
Kölesd, Ordacsehi, Hegyfalu, Ács, Tolna-Mözs, 
Ebes, Hajdúszoboszló, and others (Kiszelyné, 
Kiszely 1967; Zoffmann 2010; 2012; Tóth 2015; 
Balázs et al. 2015; Hornok, Tóth 2016, etc.). 
Similarly, there are cemeteries in Austria where 
children’s graves have been discovered, but not all 
contextual data and mortuary profiles are known: 
e.g. the cemeteries of Franzhausen, Walpersdorf, 
Oberndorf, Pöttsching, Herzogenburg, Ossarn, 
Petronell, Rassing, Göttlesbrunn, Inzersdorf (Ramsl 
2010, Tab. 1; 2016; 2018; Karwowski, Czubak 
2019; Morschhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 2021). One 
Romanian example is the bi-ritual cemetery of 
Fântânele – Dealul Iuşului/La Gâţa, with a pub-
lished detailed anthropological analysis, but no 
finds as of yet (Berecki et al. 2022). There are 
other known cemeteries in southwestern Romania 
for which only anthropological data is available 
(Gál et al. 2021, 142, Tab. 13; 18; 23–24). On the 
other hand, the large cemetery of Mannersdorf 
includes nine graves that have no remains of 
the dead but are assumed to be children’s graves 
based on the finds and the size of the grave pits 
(Ramsl 2011, graves 91, 94, 95, 97, 98, 146, 213, 
216, 232). Bioarchaeological data from certain 
cemeteries in southwestern Slovakia should also 
be approached cautiously, since a significant 
number of graves have been defined as children’s 
graves only in a general anthropological way, of-
ten without a precise determination of the child’s 
age. Examples include the cemeteries of Maňa 
(Benadík 1983) and Chotín I (Ratimorská 1981), 
as well as cemeteries that were investigated at the 
60 Marko DIZDAR
beginning of the second half of the 20th century, 
e.g. Horný Jatov, Hurbanovo, Dvory nad Žitavou 
II, Holiare, Kamenín, Bajč, Nebojsa, Svätý Peter 
(Benadík et al. 1957; Benadík 1960; Chropovský 
1958; Dušek 1960; Rejholcová 1977). There is a 
similar situation with some previously investi-
gated cemeteries in Austria, e.g. the cemeteries 
of Ossarn (Engelhardt 1969; Ramsl 2010, 92) or 
Au (Nebehay 1971). 
For this reason, the comparisons of mortuary 
profiles of children’s graves from the Zvonimirovo 
cemetery take into account only the Carpathian 
Basin cemeteries with a published complete bioar-
chaeological analysis. Although there is a noticeable 
chronological difference between Zvonimirovo 
and these cemeteries – where burials began at the 
beginning of the La Tène culture and lasted until 
the end of LT C1 at the end of the 3rd century 
BC – these are certainly important discoveries 
that open up numerous research questions. It can, 
perhaps, offer answers, at least partially, with an 
integrated approach to interdisciplinary studies of 
human remains, providing insights into the lives 
of past individuals, including children. In fact, by 
analysing the children’s graves from Zvonimirovo 
and comparing them to the children’s graves from 
the La Tène culture cemeteries in the Carpathian 
Basin, we intend to investigate the position and 
role of children in the community/ies. How did 
the community treat children in funerary rites, 
and did they undergo the same mortuary treat-
ment as adults? Were all children even buried in 
cemetery/ies? Are there variations in treatment 
based on a child’s age? What items are present in 
children’s graves and how numerous are they? Can 
we distinguish age-specific or gender-specific items 
when comparing them with adult graves? Based 
on the finds in children’s graves, can we identify 
possible changes in how children were perceived 
throughout their life courses and how their social 
status might have changed in relation to mate-
rial culture? Also, the results of anthropological 
analyses provide insights into possible pathological 
changes indicating the health of children and the 
potential causes of their premature deaths, while 
other analyses may shed light on the nutrition 
of children and their possible mobility. These 
are just some of the research questions that will 
be addressed in the analysis of children’s graves 
from the Zvonimirovo cemetery and from other 
La Tène culture cemeteries in the Carpathian 
Basin (Fig. 1), utilizing available mortuary and 
contextual datasets.
CHILDREN’S GRAVES
AT THE ZVONIMIROVO CEMETERY
Out of the 130 investigated cremation graves in 
Zvonimirovo, the anthropological analysis so far 
has been conducted for the cremated remains of 
the deceased from 81 graves, and a portion of the 
results has been published (Šlaus, Novak 2013),4 
providing insights into the biological identity of 
the dead. It indicates that individuals of all age 
groups were buried at the cemetery, reflecting the 
population profile of the community (e.g. Eggl 2009; 
Burmeister, Gebühr 2018). So far, 12 graves with 
burials of children under the age of 14 have been 
identified across the entire area of the cemetery (Fig. 
2), while one grave contained a male adolescent 
(Suppl. Table 1).5 Children in these graves were 
most commonly buried alone, as the only deceased 
in the grave (Suppl. Table 1) – graves LT 22, LT 
27, LT 30, LT 34, LT 84, LT 108, LT 110, LT 111, 
LT 117.6 Their cremated remains were in a pile at 
the bottom of the grave pit (Fig. 3; 5–6). Only in 
grave LT 84, the cremated remains of a child, along 
with costume and jewellery items, were placed in a 
pot serving as an urn (Fig. 4).7 In two graves, the 
remains of a child were placed together with the 
cremated remains of an adult woman: grave LT 5 
contained a woman aged 20–35 years and a child 
aged 5–8 years (Dizdar 2013, 399–400, Fig. 151, Pl. 
11–12), and the damaged grave LT 52 contained a 
woman aged 25–45 years and a child less than 1 
year old. In both graves, the cremated remains of 
4  The anthropological analysis of graves investigated 
until 2006 was conducted by Academician Mario Šlaus and 
Dr. Mario Novak from the Department of Anthropology at 
the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Since 2007, it 
has been conducted by Dr. Mario Novak from the Institute 
for Anthropological Research.
5  Some of the graves (i.e. graves LT 22, LT 27, LT 52, 
LT 108, LT 117) were damaged by deep plowing, and the 
burial pits and finds are poorly preserved. Tables with data 
are available at the following link http://iza.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/
razno/Dizdar_Suppl_Tables_AV_76_2025.pdf
6  In the first publication of grave LT 11, it is stated that 
the anthropological analysis showed that the remains of a 
man over 40 years old and a child aged 8 to 14 were buried 
in the grave (Dizdar 2004, 47), while in the publication 
in 2013 it is stated that a 20–to 25-year-old woman was 
buried in the grave (Dizdar 2013, 406–409; Šlaus, Novak 
2013, 517). For this reason, this grave is not included in 
the group of graves with the burial of a child.
7  The only other grave at the Zvonimirovo cemetery 
where the cremated remains of a woman were placed in 
a bowl with costume and jewellery items is grave LT 86 
(Dizdar 2016, 298).
61Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
Fig. 2: Position of children’s graves at the Zvonimirovo cemetery. Grey – grave with a single burial of a child; black – a grave 
with the burial of a child and an adult.
Sl. 2: Lega otroških grobov na grobišču Zvonimirovo. Sivo – grob s samostojnim pokopom otroka; črno – grob s pokopom 
otroka in odraslega pokojnika.
62 Marko DIZDAR
the child were in the same heap as the cremated 
remains of the woman, suggesting they were likely 
burned on a common pyre (Dizdar 2013, 38–39; 
2016, 305). Grave LT 12 (Majnarić-Pandžić 2001) 
is a unique case, containing three deceased persons 
– a man aged 35–40 years with weaponry, a child 
aged 10–14 years, and a child aged under 1 year. 
The cremated bones were located in the eastern 
part of the grave, with two noticeable larger con-
centrations: the remains of the man were in the 
northeastern part, and those of the children were 
in the southeastern part (Dizdar 2013, 409–417, 
Fig. 157, Pl. 20–30; 2016, 305). 
There have also been interesting insights into 
children’s graves in other La Tène cemeteries in 
the Carpathian Basin with known total numbers 
of found and anthropologically analysed graves. 
At the cemeteries of Ludas, Sajópetri, Dubník, and 
Pottenbrun, the graves with lone child burials are 
as numerous as those where the child is buried 
with an adult, usually a woman (Suppl. Table 2). 
In the Tiszavasvári and Palárikovo I cemeteries, 
only burials of children, as the only deceased in 
the grave, were recorded, while in the Maňa, Malé 
Kosihy and Mannersdorf cemeteries these burials 
predominate. Only in the Mátraszőlős cemetery is 
the number of children burials with a woman or 
another adult greater. This confirms the observa-
tion that the most common form of double burials 
is the burial of an adult woman and a child (Be-
recki, Vaida 2017, 28–29). It can also be seen that 
children in the Zvonimirovo cemetery were not 
buried in a specific section of the cemetery (Fig. 
2), which is the pattern observed in most other La 
Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin. So far, 
perhaps only the cemeteries of Dobova (Guštin 
1984, 319, Fig. 8), Palárikovo I (Gardelková-
Vrtelová, Benadík 2021, Map 9) and Inzersdorf 
(Morschhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 2021, 63–64, Fig. 
1) have a larger number of children’s graves in a 
specific part of the cemetery. Cemeteries in Swit-
zerland have children’s graves next to the graves of 
adults, forming family groups (Zweifel 2015, 123, 
Fig. 22–25). On the other hand, a higher number of 
Fig. 3: Zvonimirovo cemetery. Ground plan of grave LT 34. Brown – iron object; green – bronze object; grey – pottery. 
Sl. 3: Grobišče Zvonimirovo. Tloris groba LT 34. Rjavo – železni predmet; zeleno – bronasti predmet; sivo – keramika.
63Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
children’s graves in comparison to the total number 
of graves have been recorded at the cemeteries of 
Basel – Gasfabrik8 (Rissanen, Alder 2011; Pichler 
et al. 2012; Rissanen et al. 2013; Pichler et al. 2013; 
2015; 2017; Brönnimann et al. 2022) and Bern – 
Reichenbachstrasse9 (Jud, Ulrich-Bochsler 2014).
In the Zvonimirovo cemetery, the number of 
children’s graves accounts for approximately 15% 
8  At the cemeteries of Basel – Gasfabrik A and B, the 
share of children’s graves is up to 65%, with children under 
the age of 6 making up 56% (Rissanen et al. 2013, 139; Pichler 
et al. 2013, 475, Tab. 1; 2015, 260–261, Fig. 4; 2017, 13–15).
9  At the Bern – Reichenbachstrasse cemetery, with 36 
investigated graves, more than half belong to children (60%). 
Since no graves of men were found in the investigated part 
of the cemetery, it is assumed that this proportion would 
likely be around 30%. Almost three-quarters of the children 
(out of a total of 18) died before the age of 5, most of them 
between 3 and 5 years old, while there are no graves of 
newborns or children who died shortly after birth, as well 
as adolescents (Ulrich-Bochsler, Rüttimann 2014, 71–73, 
Fig. 70; Jud 2014, 100–101, Fig. 89).
of the sample analysed so far, which aligns with 
the observations that this proportion ranges from 
10% to 25% in other cemeteries (Suppl. Table 2). J. 
Bujna notes that the proportion of children’s graves 
in cemeteries with a large number of investigated 
graves is between 6% and 13% (Bujna 2019, 62). 
A similar proportion to Zvonimirovo has been 
recorded for the cemeteries of Ludas and Sajópetri 
in northeastern Hungary, Maňa in southwestern 
Slovakia, and Pottenbrun in Lower Austria. These 
percentages are somewhat higher at the cemeteries 
of Tiszavasvári, Dubník, Palárikovo I, and Man-
nersdorf, and somewhat lower at the cemeteries 
of Mátraszőlős and Malé Kosihy (Suppl. Table 2). 
We can add the data for the Dürrnberg – Eislfeld 
cemetery, where the proportion of children’s graves 
is 10.8% (Wendling 2020, 66). These numbers 
suggest that children were a recognizable social 
group during the Late Iron Age, considering the 
assumptions that activites of children are not 
invisible at archaeological sites, but that material 
traces associated with children are hard to identify 
(e.g. Sofaer Dervenski 1994; 1997; Kamp 2001; 
Lillehammer 2000; 2002; 2010; Baxter 2005; 2008; 
Wileman 2005; Pawleta 2009; 2013; Coşkunsu 
2015; Kamp 2015, etc.). 
THE MORTUARY TREATMENT
OF CHILDREN
All the graves in Zvonimirovo, including those 
of children, are cremation graves. The cremated 
remains of children, just like those of adults, are 
buried as a heap at the bottom of the grave pit, 
sometimes probably wrapped in fabric (Fig. 3; 5–6). 
Among the cremated bones, there are no traces 
of pyre residues, which seems to indicate that the 
bones were washed after collection. Costume and 
jewellery items are inside the heap, while ceramic 
vessels lie beside the cremated remains (Dizdar 
2013, 32–33; 2016, 297–298; Dizdar, Ljuština 
2019, 50). So far, only two graves at the cemetery 
contain cremated bones inside a ceramic vessel 
serving as an urn. In grave LT 86, the cremated 
remains of a woman with items of costume and 
jewellery were found in a bowl (Dizdar 2016, 
298); in grave LT 84, the cremated remains of a 
child with items of costume and jewellery were 
found in a pot (Fig. 4). This indicates that chil-
dren in the Zvonimirovo cemetery received the 
same mortuary treatment as adults (Dizdar 2013, 
40–42; 2020a).
Fig. 4: Zvonimirovo cemetery. Ground plan of grave LT 
84. Grey – pottery.
Sl. 4: Grobišče Zvonimirovo. Tloris groba LT 84. Sivo – 
keramika.
64 Marko DIZDAR
The grave pits containing the cremated remains 
of children had the same shapes and dimensions as 
those of adults. There are noticeable differences in 
depth among children’s graves, ranging from shal-
low graves that were later damaged by cultivating 
the land to those up to 1.50 metres deep, such as 
grave LT 110 (Fig. 5). This grave stands out in 
terms of dimensions considering the number of 
finds discovered inside (Suppl. Table 1). Something 
similar has been noted for other cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin, especially for cremation graves. 
In the case of children’s inhumation graves, it 
can be observed that the grave pits could also be 
smaller to accommodate smaller bodies. However, 
there were also children’s inhumation graves with 
adult-sized grave pits, as documented in the Basel 
– Gasfabrik cemetery (Rissanen et al. 2013, 132; 
Pichler et al. 2013, 476; 2015, 261–262). There 
were interesting remains of a wooden coffin/
casket in grave LT 30, where a child was buried. 
Remains of wooden burial architecture have been 
recorded in a few other graves of adults (Dizdar 
2016, 303–304, Fig. 7; 12) and in other cemeteries 
in the Carpathian Basin. For instance, remains of 
a wooden coffin have been preserved in the Ludas 
cemetery, in double cremation grave 1139 with the 
burial of a newborn and a child aged 1–7 years 
(Szabó, Tankó 2012, 73, Fig. 115–116, Pl. XLVI: 
5–6) and in grave 1157 with the burial of a child 
aged 1–7 years (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 76–77, Fig. 
Fig. 5: Zvonimirovo cemetery. Ground plan of grave LT 110. Green – bronze object; yellow – glass object; grey – pottery.
Sl. 5: Grobišče Zvonimirovo. Tloris groba LT 110. Zeleno – bronasti predmet; rumeno – stekleni predmet; sivo – keramika.
65Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
122–124, Pl. XLVIII: 4–12). In the Malé Kosihy 
cemetery, in cremation grave 28 with the burial of 
a child aged 9–12 years, remains of wood, likely 
from a coffin, were discovered along the edges 
of the grave pit (Bujna 1995, 22–23, Fig. 10, Pl. 
5: 1–11).
The laying of cremated child remains in a ceramic 
vessel serving as an urn has been documented in 
the Carpathian Basin in only a few children’s graves 
or graves with an adult and a child. Otherwise, the 
deposition of cremated remains in an urn, not only 
for children but also for adults, has been recorded 
in a small number of graves in La Tène cemeter-
ies. These graves are more numerous only in the 
eastern Carpathian Basin and in Moravia. Vessels 
of various shapes and often of larger dimensions 
were used as urns; these vessels also appear as grave 
goods (Dizdar 2016, 298–299; Repka 2020, 157). 
This is also evident from examples from cemeter-
ies in northeastern Hungary. In the Tiszavasvári 
cemetery, in grave 23, the cremated remains of a 
child aged 0–2 years were found in a small pot 
together with the cremated bone of a sheep’s leg 
(Almássy 1998, 61–62, Pl. XVI: 4). In the Ludas 
cemetery, in grave 686, the cremated remains of 
an adult man with weaponry were in the southern 
part of the grave, while the cremated bones of a 
newborn were partly placed in a ceramic vessel 
and partly with the remains of the man (Szabó, 
Tankó 2012, 28–30, Fig. 33–38). In the Sajópetri 
cemetery, in grave 3/3, the cremated remains of 
a child aged around 14 years were partly in the 
northern part of the grave and partly in a bowl 
(Szabó, Tankó 2018, 24–25, Fig. 13; Bózsing 
2018, 249). In grave 20/75, containing an adult 
woman and a child aged 0–7 years, the cremated 
bones were in the middle of the grave and in a 
pot (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 45–47, Fig. 29; Bózsing 
2018, 251–252). In the richly equipped grave 27/89, 
containing an adult woman and a child aged 1–7 
years, the cremated bones were in two pots and 
around them, while costume and jewellery items 
were together with the cremated bones in both 
pots (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 52–56, Fig. 36, Pl. XVI: 
13–14; Bózsing 2018, 252–253). This seems to 
indicate that the remains of the woman and the 
child were mixed in both pots: they were probably 
cremated together, and then their remains were 
placed in the pots together with the items. In a 
cremation grave from the Budapest – Rákospalota 
site, the cremated remains of a woman younger 
than 18 years were found in a pot covered with a 
bowl. The urn also contained a smaller pot with 
a jug inside it, while a small bowl was next to an 
urn with fragments of metal objects (Nagy 1959, 
336–338, Fig. 2–8). At the Malé Kosihy cemetery, 
in grave 28, the cremated remains of a child 
aged 9–12 years were placed in the corner of the 
grave, with another small amount in a pot (Bu-
jna 1995, 22–23, Fig. 10, Pl. 5: 11). In cremation 
grave 1/55 at the cemetery of Dvory nad Žitavou 
II, the cremated remains of what was probably a 
child according to the researcher (no anthropo-
logical analysis was conducted) were placed in a 
pot with leg bones at the bottom, then the torso, 
and finally the head bones on top. Costume and 
jewellery items were found in the grave together 
with the cremated bones; only the remains of a 
belt were around the neck of the pot (Benadík et 
al. 1957, 82–83, Pl. XXIX: 1–7, 11, 17). Also, grave 
1 of tumulus 9 at the Lang – Schirka cemetery in 
Styria contained the cremated remains of a child 
aged 0–6 years placed in an urn together with a 
small axe (Mauthner 2021, 24, Fig. 3: 1–2; 2023, 
66–67, Fig. 2–3). 
What distinguishes children’s graves from adult 
graves in the Zvonimirovo cemetery is the smaller 
quantity of cremated bones found in children’s 
graves (Suppl. Table 1). This was partly influenced 
by the state of preservation of the graves, as sev-
eral children’s graves were damaged by cultivating 
the land. The anthropological analysis shows the 
presence of all body parts. The cremated bones 
of children, just like those of adults, are highly 
fragmented and dark grey but mostly white, in-
dicating a high temperature of the pyre ranging 
from 400 to 650 °C (Šlaus, Novak 2013, 518). On 
the other hand, bronze and glass objects damaged 
by cremation seem to indicate higher burning 
temperatures (Dizdar 2013, 34–36, Fig. 8–9; 2016: 
296–297, Fig. 1–2; 4), as documented at the Ludas 
cemetery (Tankó, Tankó 2012, 251, App. 1). The 
weight of cremated remains of children usually 
ranges up to 100 g, although it could be higher 
in some graves (e.g. the older child from grave 
LT 12) (Suppl. Table 1).10 It can be seen that the 
cremated remains of older children have greater 
weight, and we should certainly take into account 
the possibility that not all cremated remains were 
collected from the pyre. The recorded values cor-
respond to the experimental results indicating that 
10  In some graves, the weight of the cremated bones 
is greater (Suppl. Table 1), but the fragmentation in these 
graves made it impossible to distinguish the cremated 
children’s bones from the cremated bones of animals (pigs).
66 Marko DIZDAR
the average weight of cremated children would 
be around 54 g for those aged 0–6 months and 
around 185 g for those aged 6–36 months. On the 
other hand, this shows that the bones of newborns 
and infants could also withstand exposure to high 
temperatures during cremation (Mays 1998; Jæger, 
Johansen 2014). Similar data on the weight of chil-
dren’s cremated remains have been documented 
at the cemeteries of Ludas and Sajópetri (Tankó, 
Tankó 2012; Tankó 2012; Bózsing 2018), as well 
as Hegyfalu (Balázs et al. 2015), again noting that 
probably not all cremated bones were collected from 
the pyre after cremation (Tankó, Tankó 2012, 251; 
Berecki et al. 2022, 54, 56). At the Ludas cemetery, 
it was observed that some children’s graves lack 
skull bones (Tankó 2012, 213). 
The cremated remains of children in most graves 
at the Zvonimirovo cemetery were accompanied 
by the cremated bones of young pigs or other 
unidentified animals, again probably pigs (Suppl. 
Table 1). The cremated animal bones have different 
weights and usually consist of parts of the head 
and front or hind legs (Radović 2013, 541–543; 
Dizdar 2016, 302–303). A similar funerary practice 
has been documented at the cemeteries of Ludas 
(Tankó, Tankó 2012, 254–255) and Sajópetri (Szabó, 
Tankó 2018; Bózsing 2018).
Double and multiple burials
with the burial of a child
In the Zvonimirovo cemetery, the anthropological 
analysis has identified 12 graves with the burials 
of children under 14 years of age. Children were 
buried alone in nine graves and with adults in 
three graves (Suppl. Table 1). In two graves, the 
child was buried with an adult woman (graves LT 
5 and LT 52), with the cremated remains of the 
child in the same heap as the cremated remains of 
the woman, suggesting a shared pyre (Dizdar 2013, 
38–39; 2016, 305). Similar funerary practices have 
been documented in the Ludas cemetery, in graves 
699, 725, and 1267, with burials of an adult woman 
and a child of the Infans I group (Tankó, Tankó 
2012, 252, App. 1). On the other hand, cremation 
grave 62 at the Mátraszőlős cemetery contained an 
approximately 15-year-old male with weaponry and 
a child around 1 year old; their cremated remains 
were buried as two separate heaps (Almássy 2012, 
134–136, Fig. 14, Pl. LXXII–LXXIV). The double 
graves at Zvonimirovo contained two adults, almost 
always a male and a female, the heaps of cremated 
bones were always separate, each with its identifi-
able items of weaponry, costume, and jewellery. 
This suggests that the deceased were cremated on 
separate pyres and then buried together in the same 
grave (Dizdar 2013, 38–41; 2016, 304–306, Fig. 
13–14). LT 12 is the only grave with the remains 
of three individuals: an adult male aged 35–40, 
a child aged 10–14, and an infant aged under 1 
year. All their cremated bones were in the eastern 
part of the grave, with two major concentrations: 
the male’s remains in the northeastern part and 
the children’s remains in the southeastern part 
(Majnarić-Pandžić 2001; Dizdar 2013, 409–417, 
Fig. 157, Pl. 20–30; 2016, 305).
Similar discoveries about double or multiple 
burials (e.g. Boulestin, Duday 2006: 160–164; 
Boulestin 2022; Boulestin, Courtaud 2022, etc.) 
have been documented at other La Tène cemeteries 
in the Carpathian Basin, where bioarchaeological 
analysis results are known. Double burials during 
the Late Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin represent 
unique contexts (Berecki, Vaida 2017; Berecki et al. 
2022, 54). Aside from the Zvonimirovo cemetery, 
individual burials of children aged around 1 year or 
younger have been recorded at only three cemeter-
ies (Suppl. Table 3), as children of this age group 
were more commonly buried with adults, usually 
adult women (Suppl. Table 4). It is noteworthy that 
the development of the La Tène culture is marked 
by numerous burials of children younger than 1 
year in settlement contexts, which will be specially 
considered. This is also noted by P. C. Ramsl, who 
emphasizes that children are buried in cemeteries 
only if older than 12 months and typically have 
their own burials if older than 4–5 years (Ramsl 
2010, 88; 2018, 205).
Burials of children with adult women in two 
graves in Zvonimirovo have numerous parallels with 
other La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin. 
Most often, these graves contain an adult woman 
and a child under the age of 7, and only rarely an 
adult man (Suppl. Table 4; 6). Burials of women 
and children in a shared grave are associated with 
motherhood, which played an important role in the 
course of life of every woman, but the relationship 
between mother and child during life is still poorly 
understood (Mays et al. 2017, 5; Rebay-Salisbury 
2018a; 2018b, 40, 46; Gowland 2018). One possible 
testimony to this relationship is inhumation grave 
9 from the Nytra – Mlynárce cemetery, containing 
a woman aged 35–40 years in a crouched position 
with a 7–8-month-old child in her arms (Bujna 
2019, 57–58, 60, Fig. 2–4, Pl. I–III). Three recently 
67Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
found inhumation graves with a similar position of 
a woman and a child are also known. In grave 34 at 
the Walpersdorf cemetery, a woman about 25 years 
old held a newborn child in her right hand, whose 
head was resting on the woman’s right shoulder 
(Morschhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 2021, 61). Two 
graves were found at the Inzersdorf cemetery. In 
grave 43, a 35–45-year-old woman hugged a few-
month-old child with her right hand, and a similar 
position of the deceased is reported for grave 45 
(Morschhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 2021, 64, Fig. 7 left).
In general, the double burial of a woman and a 
newborn is often linked to complications during 
childbirth or the health of the mother after childbirth 
both for the child and the mother, as it is assumed 
that as many as 15% of women could have died 
during pregnancy or childbirth (Rebay-Salisbury 
2017a, 66; 2017b, 184). However, caution is needed 
when interpreting double burials of adult women 
and children as graves of mother and child; such 
graves do not necessarily indicate family ties, as 
other social relationships are also possible. Family 
ties in such cases may be confirmed through future 
analyses.
While graves with a woman and a child in La 
Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin are more 
numerous, we will also mention the much rarer 
burials of an adult man with a child, the double 
burials of two children, and triple burials such as 
grave LT 12 in Zvonimirovo (Suppl. Table 4; 6; 8). 
Burials of an adult man with a child have been 
documented in several La Tène cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin (Ramsl 2010, 96; Berecki, Vaida 
2017, 29); most often, they are burials of adult men 
with weaponry. At the Ludas cemetery, there are 
two such graves (686 and 725); one with an adult 
man and a newborn and the other with an adult 
man and a child of around 6 months (Szabó, Tankó 
2012, 28–30, 37–38, Fig. 33–38; 51–51; Tankó 2012, 
203; Tankó, Tankó 2012, 252–253, 257). A child of a 
similar age has been documented in the double grave 
9/55 in the Sajópetri cemetery (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 
31–32, Fig. 19; Bózsing 2018, 250). Double burials 
of a man and a child, usually aged 1 to 7 years, have 
also been recorded at the cemeteries of Kóny (Tóth 
2015, 4), Jászberény (Kaposvári 1969, 178, Fig. 1: 
1–3; 7: 2; 10: 1; 13: 2), Mátraszőlős (Almássy 2012, 
134–136, Fig. 14, Pl. LXXII–LXXIV), possibly Bajč 
(Benadík 1960, 398, Pl. V: 8, 14, 17, 19), but also 
Pottenbrun, where the child in grave 5 was around 
10 years old (Ramsl 2002, 27–28, 138, Fig. 14–15, 
Pl. 2; 29) and Mannersdorf, where the child burial 
in grave 60 is considered a secondary burial (Ramsl 
2011, 54–55, 202, Pl. 80–83; 2010, 91, Fig. 8). One 
certain secondary burial was that of a child aged 
5–10 years in grave 520 in the Pottenbrun cemetery, 
above the burial of a warrior with weaponry (Ramsl 
2002, 43–45, 141, Fig. 36–39, Pl. 12; 58–61; 2010, 89, 
Fig. 5). It should also be noted that there is a large 
number of graves in the La Tène cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin where a child was buried alone 
but its age was not precisely determined (Suppl. 
Table 9). There is a significantly smaller number 
of graves where a child of indeterminate age was 
buried together with an adult (Suppl. Table 10). 
These are cemeteries investigated from the 1950s 
to the 1980s, when researchers often determined 
the age for inhumation burials.
During the development of the La Tène culture 
in the Carpathian Basin, another kind of rare 
burials were the double burials of two children, 
usually of different ages (Suppl. Table 11). In the 
Ludas cemetery, cremation grave 1139 contained 
a heap with the remains of a newborn and frag-
ments of the skull of a child aged 1–7 years, while 
the other bones of the older child were missing, 
which makes it harder to interpret this grave as a 
double burial (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 73, Fig. 115–116, 
Pl. XLVI: 5–6; Tankó 2012, 208; Tankó, Tankó 
2012, 252–253, 257). Inhumation grave 1380 at 
the Ménfőcsanak cemetery is an exceptional find: 
it contained two children lying on their side, one 
aged 1–2 years and the other aged 6–9 years (Tóth 
2015, 6, 15, Fig. 4). A burial of two children, one 
aged 2–4 years and the other of undetermined 
age, is known from the Hejőkeresztúr cemetery 
(Hellebrandt 2006, 204, 206, Fig. 4: 1–5, 7–8; 7: 
1–4); at the Gencsapáti cemetery, inhumation 
grave 912 contained a man aged 16–18 years and 
a woman/girl aged 10–14/16 years without any 
items (Ilon, Nagy 2010, 87, 89, Fig. 29). In fact, the 
latter case seems to be a burial of two adolescents. 
A double child grave has also been recorded at 
the Franzhausen cemetery. Inhumation grave 814 
contained a child aged 9–11 years and one aged 
4–5 years, both richly equipped with costume and 
jewellery items and two ceramic vessels (Ramsl, 
Nowotny 2020, 170–174, Fig. 2–7; 9, Pl. 1–3). At 
the Inzersdorf cemetery, in inhumation grave 90, 
the remains of two children, aged about 2 and 5 
years, were also found, with ceramic vessels and 
animal bones that were located in the eastern part 
of the grave pit (Morschhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 
2021, 64, Fig. 7 right). Finally, an inhumation grave 
in the Rassing cemetery contained two children 
(Preinfalk 2005, 94). 
68 Marko DIZDAR
Regarding grave LT 12, there are a few other 
cases of triple or multiple burials in the La Tène 
cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin. These burials 
typically involve two adults and a child. The clos-
est parallel is cremation grave 10a at the Dobova 
cemetery, from LT C1, containing the remains 
of a man and a woman and a bowl covering the 
remains of a child aged around 2 years. The grave 
contained weaponry and toiletries that seem to 
belong to the man and items of costume and 
jewellery belonging to the woman (Guštin 1981, 
225, 229, Fig. 1: 2, Pl. 45–48; 1984, 315, 317, Fig. 
4; 7–8; Hincak, Guštin 2011, 242). The damaged 
grave 65/140 in the Sajópetri cemetery contained 
the remains of an adult, an adult woman, and a 
child aged 2–4 years (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 98, Fig. 
71, Pl. XLI: 1–4; Bózsing 2018, 257). Inhumation 
grave 20 in the Pöttsching cemetery contained the 
remains of a woman and two children (Ramsl 2011, 
25); a robbed inhumation grave in the Göttlesb-
runn cemetery contained the remains of a man, 
a woman, and a child (Karwowski, Czubak 2019, 
72, Fig. 4). Grave 184-6 in the Ossarn cemetery 
contained an interesting discovery: the inhumation 
burial of a 25–30-year-old woman and, beside her 
head, a pot serving as an urn with the cremated 
remains of a woman and a child (Ramsl 2018, 206). 
The remains of four deceased persons – a woman, 
a child about 12 years old, a child about 5 years 
old, and a man – were discovered in a grave at the 
Kuffern cemetery, investigated in 1897 (Nebehay 
1993, 20–21, Pl. 12). We should also mention grave 
760 from the Ménfőcsanak cemetery, where two 
adult men with weaponry were buried one above 
the other, and two milk teeth attributed to a child 
were found at the western edge of the grave (Vaday, 
Tankó 2020, 490–492, Fig. 22).
Graves with two or more deceased persons, 
where at least one was a child, in the Zvonimirovo 
cemetery and in other cemeteries in the Carpathian 
Basin, can be explained in different ways (e.g. 
Boulestin, Duday 2006, 160–164; Boulestin 2022; 
Boulestin, Courtaud 2022, 62–63). It is likely that 
they died at the same time or within a short time 
frame, but the cause remains unknown, especially 
when considering the poorly and partially preserved 
remains of the cremated dead, as is the case in 
Zvonimirovo. It can be assumed that graves with 
two or more deceased persons, including children, 
reflect social relations of various kinds between 
the buried individuals – probably family ties or 
connections during their lifetime, which made 
the community choose such an unusual mortu-
ary treatment. Indeed, the community burying 
them considered social ties important, which is 
reflected in shared burials and most clearly in 
the graves with a woman/mother and a child, 
indicating strong emotional ties (Rebay-Salisbury 
2018b, 37–46). There is also the interesting hy-
pothesis of sacrificing orphan children in case 
of no living adult family members and no one 
in the community taking responsibility for the 
child (Berecki, Vaida 2017, 34). On the other 
hand, graves containing two children might sug-
gest siblings, especially if they were of different 
ages (Rebay-Salisbury 2018b, 40). Also, there is 
the interesting difference between double inhu-
mation and cremation graves with the burial of 
a child and an adult. While inhumation graves 
have a clear distinction between the burial of a 
child and that of an adult, cremation graves have 
a more complex situation. As shown by examples 
from Zvonimirovo and other cemeteries, children 
were probably cremated on the same pyre as the 
adult, which is indicated by the fact that the 
cremated remains of both were found together 
on the same heap. It is improbable that they were 
cremated on separate pyres and then mixed during 
their deposition in the grave. One such case could 
be grave 686 from the Ludas cemetery, where the 
cremated remains of an adult male were found in 
the southern part of the grave, while the cremated 
bones of a newborn were partly placed in a ce-
ramic vessel and partly mixed with the cremated 
bones of the man (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 28–30, Fig. 
33–38). Another intriguing arrangement can be 
seen in grave 27/89 in the Sajópetri cemetery: the 
cremated remains of an adult woman and a child 
aged 1–7 years were placed in two pots serving as 
urns and around them (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 52–56, 
Fig. 36, Pl. XVI: 13–14; Bózsing 2018, 252–253). 
This seems to suggest that the woman and child 
were cremated together; otherwise, each urn would 
contain the remains of one individual along with 
their own items of costume and jewellery.
Secondary burials
with the burial of a child
In La Tène cemeteries, there are a few examples 
of graves with an adult and a child where one of 
them was buried later (Ramsl 2010, 96), with the 
child usually being the one buried later. This is 
evidenced by the secondary burial of a child aged 
5–10 years without any items, placed above a richly 
69Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
equipped 45–55-year-old male with weaponry in 
grave 520 at the Pottenbrun cemetery (Ramsl 2002, 
43–45, 141, Fig. 36–39, Pl. 12; 58–61; 2010, 89, 
Fig. 5). Another such example of secondary burial 
is grave 60 at the Mannersdorf cemetery, where a 
child aged 4–5 years was buried next to an adult 
male with weaponry. The child was oriented in 
the opposite direction and richly equipped with 
costume and jewellery items (Ramsl 2011, 54–55, 
202, Pl. 80–83; 2010, 91, Fig. 8). Secondary burials 
of children above men seem to be documented in 
the Jászberény cemetery as well (Kaposvári 1969, 
178; Berecki, Vaida 2017, 29), while an example 
of a child without finds buried above a man and 
a woman has been recorded in grave 28 at the 
Maňa cemetery (Benadík 1983, 25). In the same 
cemetery, in grave 129, a child under 5 years of 
age was placed over the left side of the chest of 
a woman aged 17–22 years, possibly indicating 
another secondary burial (Benadík 1983, 60, Fig. 
14, Pl. LII: 1–11). On the other hand, grave 20 in 
the Dubník cemetery contained a woman aged 
50–60 years and a child aged 3–4 years, with the 
richly equipped woman placed above the child 
(Bujna 1989, 269–270, Fig. 25, Pl. XXIIA: 13–15; 
XXIII: 1–12). Secondary burials are particularly 
numerous at the Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène 
cemetery of Dürrnberg – Eislfeld, some spanning 
multiple generations (Wendling 2020, 64–65). The 
examples of these burials and discovery contexts 
suggest that the secondary burial was made with 
the knowledge of the position of the older burial 
that had to be reopened, indicating a social tie 
between the deceased (Boulestin, Courtaud 2022, 
63–67) or a personal and emotional tie between 
the deceased and the mourners (Ramsl 2018, 209; 
Wendling 2020, 64–65). This tie was probably fa-
milial, although the time and cause of death may 
not have been the same (Rebay-Salisbury 2018b, 
38). However, there are other possible explanations, 
such as opening the grave for object handling or 
for religious reasons (Ramsl 2018, 209).
Children’s burials
at La Tène settlements
As already mentioned, the development of 
the La Tène culture is marked by numerous 
examples of child burials in settlement contexts, 
typically involving newborns up to 3 months old 
or children up to 1 year old and rarely including 
finds. These burials are interpreted in different 
ways, but they undoubtedly represent a common 
burial practice for this age group (Endlich 1998, 
380; Wiltschke-Schrotta 1999; Krausse 1998; 2002; 
Beilke-Voigt 2008; 2010; 2013; 2018; Ramsl 2010; 
2018; Trebsche 2012; 2013; 2020, 424; Kamp 2015, 
etc.). The commonness of this burial practice 
during the development of the La Tène culture 
might be indicated by the small number of graves 
of children of this age group in Zvonimirovo and 
other cemeteries (Suppl. Table 3–4).
Currently, the only known example of a child 
burial in a settlement in the area inhabited by the 
Scordisci comes from Gomolava: a child aged 3–4 
years was buried at the bottom of a Late La Tène 
pit with a man aged 25–35 years and a woman 
aged 44–48 years. They were covered with frag-
ments of millstones and oats, and the child was 
placed next to the woman. The man’s head was 
partly burnt, as well as the head and thigh of 
the woman. At the bottom of the pit, there were 
potsherds and one intact kantharos placed next 
to the woman’s left forearm. A luxurious bronze 
fibula of the Gomolava type was also found near 
the woman’s left forearm (Jovanović, Jovanović 
1988, 53–58, 173–177, App. 7, Fig. 14–17, Pl. XLIII: 
1–5; XLIV: 1–5; XLV: 1–4). Numerous examples of 
child burials within settlements are known from 
the area of the ’Daco-Getic’ culture in the eastern 
Carpathian Basin and the Lower Danube. They 
are dated throughout the Late Iron Age, from 
the 4th century BC to the Roman conquest at the 
beginning of the 2nd century AD. At the Ostrovul 
Șimian site in the Iron Gates region, there were 
documented inhumation remains of two children 
within the settlement (Popilian 1999, 63, Fig. 11). 
This practice of burying children within settlements 
is considered a tradition dating back to the begin-
ning of the Iron Age in this region. In terms of 
burials within settlements, there are adult burials 
too, but in over 60% of the cases they are burials 
of children, typically under the age of 7. In pits, 
children might be buried alone, but sometimes they 
were buried with an adult, and sometimes several 
people were placed in the same pit. There are often 
just a few body parts, suggesting their exposure 
after death or the manipulation of their remains. 
Possible reasons for such burials are higher child 
mortality or maybe even child sacrifice, but it is 
certain that children underwent special mortuary 
treatment. There are few finds, mostly costume 
and jewellery items, while the fills of such pits 
contain mostly potsherds. The majority of these 
burials are dated to the 1st century BC and the 1st 
70 Marko DIZDAR
century AD (Sîrbu 1993, 31–36; 1997, 196–197, 
Fig. 1; 2008, 72–77, Fig. 5.1; Sîrbu et al. 2006, 
192–193, Fig. 9–11; Sîrbu, Dăvîncă 2013, 194–198, 
Tab. 2; 2014, 366–371; 2016, 322–324, 328–331; 
Dăvîncă 2013). It is important to note that the 
cemeteries in this region include both inhumation 
and cremation graves of children, which rarely 
contain finds (Sîrbu, Dăvîncă 2013, 192–194, 
Tab. 1). One particularly interesting case is the 
Grădina – Castelului Plateau in Hunedoara, the 
site of a ’sacred necropolis’, an unusual cemetery. 
It contained 53 individuals, with as many as 39 
children’s inhumation burials: 38 of the Infans I 
age group and only one of the Infans II age group. 
Most children were buried alone, but there were 
also graves with several children or with an adult 
(sometimes cremated), but some cases included 
only fragments of children’s bodies. The finds are 
few and include costume and jewellery items, rarely 
a spear, and no ceramic vessels. This burial treat-
ment is believed to represent sacrificial or ritual 
burials of children during the period before the 
Roman conquest in the 1st and the beginning of 
the 2nd century AD (Sîrbu et al. 2006, 188–194, 
Fig. 1; Sîrbu 2008, 71–83, Fig. 5.4; Kelemen et al. 
2012, 412–413; Sîrbu, Dăvîncă 2013, 200–203).11
The remains of children are found in large num-
bers inside and around the houses of the Ramsautal 
settlement in Dürrnberg, dated from LT A to LT C. 
It is believed that the children were buried within 
the settlement because they were not full members 
of the community yet (Wiltschke-Schrotta 1999; 
Karl, Löcker 2011, 37–43). Examples of burials 
of both children and adults are also known from 
the Late La Tène settlement of Basel – Gasfabrik. 
They include completely preserved bodies of 
children and adults (a total of 28 individuals), 
but more commonly just their parts, dominated 
by long bones and skull fragments. Human bones 
are found in various contexts, with pits contain-
ing from 1 to 9 individuals. The anthropological 
analysis indicates that only one-third of the dead 
were under the age of 20, and their remains are 
found in contexts with some of the adults.12 On 
the other hand, the proportion of children’s graves 
11  A. Rustoiu doubts the contexts and interpretation of 
this site (Rustoiu 2016b, 321, n. 15; 2019, 224–225, n. 651).
12  If we include in the analysis not only the dead from 
the settlement, but also the data from cemeteries A and B, 
we get the remains of 31 children: 11 premature fetuses or 
stillborn infants, 4 newborns, 15 children of the Infans I 
age group, and only 1 child from the Infans II age group.
in cemeteries is much higher, indicating culturally 
determined selectivity in the burial of children. 
Some remains displayed traces of violence, cutting, 
and dog bites. The human remains from the set-
tlement were certainly subjected to various kinds 
of peri-mortem and post-mortem manipulations 
(Rissanen et al. 2013, 129, 131, 136–137, Fig. 8; 
Pichler et al. 2013, 474, 478–481, Tab. 2, Fig. 1; 
4; 2015, 259, 266–268, Fig. 8; 2017, 13–15; Brön-
nimann et al. 2022, 130–138, Fig. 18; 22; 24–25). 
The insights into the burial practices of newborns 
in La Tène settlements raise numerous questions, 
such as: Why were some children buried in settle-
ments and others in cemeteries? Were all children 
buried? What happened to the bodies of other 
fetuses and newborns? Documented findings on 
the burial of children in La Tène settlements sug-
gest – considering the number of children’s graves 
in cemeteries, especially the youngest ones (Suppl. 
Table 3–4) – that burial practices were selective 
during the La Tène culture. This also shows that, 
apparently, there were at least two phases in child-
hood. It seems that the youngest children (up to 1 
year) were most often considered too young to be 
buried in the cemetery of the community to which 
they belonged; they were buried with adults in the 
cemetery only if older than one year (Ramsl 2010, 
88; Zweifel 2015, 125). Newborns who died during 
childbirth or shortly thereafter were perhaps not 
considered members of the community, which 
probably had its own norms regarding who could 
be considered part of it and thus eligible for burial 
in the cemetery (Mays 2000; 2014, 101). Maybe 
the deceased newborn was important only to the 
family and not to the community; by being buried 
close to the house, it continued to live with them 
(Murphy, Le Roy 2017). If a newborn survived the 
critical moments after birth and the community 
accepted it, perhaps this influenced its right to be 
buried in the cemetery. This might be reflected by 
the graves of children under 1 year of age, which 
were buried more often with an adult, however.
CHILDREN’S AGE GROUPS
The analysis of children’s graves in the Zvonimirovo 
cemetery shows that all age groups are represented 
(Suppl. Table 1). The same has been recorded in 
other La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin 
where anthropological analysis results are available 
(Suppl. Table 2–8); additional information may 
come from cemeteries where the age of children 
71Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
has not been precisely determined (Suppl. Table 
9–10). Children in the Zvonimirovo cemetery are 
divided into three age groups: children under 1 
year, children aged 1 to 7 years, and children aged 
8 to 14 years. These age groups – Infans I (0–7) 
and II (8–14) – are recognized in anthropological 
analyses for the cemeteries of Ludas (Tankó 2012, 
212) and Sajópetri (Bózsing 2018, 248), which 
served as examples for studying children’s graves 
from Zvonimirovo. With some minor differences, a 
similar age determination is used in anthropological 
analyses in central Europe.13 This allows for the 
study of how a specific age is related to funerary 
practice and material legacy (Rebay-Salisbury, 
Pany-Kucera 2020, 3) and the identification of 
biological and cultural determinants for each life 
phase of children (Thompson et al. 2014, 2).
At the Zvonimirovo cemetery, children under 
the age of 1 were buried alone in graves LT 108 
and LT 117 (Fig. 6); a child of this age was buried 
13  After the German anthropological convention, which 
uses the following age categories: Fetus/Neonatus (newborn: 
up to three months), Infans I (early childhood, 0–6 years), 
Infans II (late childhood, 8–14 years), Juvenis (adolescence, 
15–20). See somewhat different data in: Buckberry 2018, 
56–64, Tab. 3.1; also: Halcrow, Ward 2018.
with an adult woman in grave LT 52 and with an 
adult man, and a child aged 10–14 years in grave 
LT 12. Children who passed away between the ages 
of 1 and 7 were buried in graves LT 30 (5–7 years), 
LT 84 (4–6 years) (Fig. 4), LT 110 (0–5 years) (Fig. 
5), LT 111 (0–5 years), and the double grave LT 5 
(5–8 years). Children who died between the ages 
of 8 and 14 were buried in graves LT 22 (12–15 
years), LT 27 (12–15 years), LT 34 (5–12 years) 
(Fig. 3), and in the triple grave LT 12 (10–14 years).
In the Zvonimirovo cemetery, but also in other La 
Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin, a distinct 
group consists of graves in which children up to 1 
year of age were buried. This age group has already 
been discussed when examining child burials in 
different contexts within the La Tène settlements 
(Ramsl 2010, 88; Zweifel 2015, 125; Trebsche 2020, 
424). In the Zvonimirovo cemetery, two graves 
contain a single burial of a child in this age group, 
and two others contain a child buried alongside an 
adult (Suppl. Table 1). Single burials of children 
under 1 year of age in La Tène cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin are also rare (Suppl. Table 3).14 
These graves demonstrate that even the youngest 
children were buried with respect, and therefore 
probably accepted as members of the community. 
This was perhaps influenced by their belonging 
to a family that stood out in the community or by 
some other culturally determined reason which 
is unknown to us. On the other hand, burials of 
children in this age group alongside adults have 
been recorded in significantly greater numbers, 
most often with an adult woman (Suppl. Table 
4). There is an interesting result of the 87Sr/86Sr 
strontium isotope analysis in the case of the richly 
equipped woman aged 50–60 years from grave 
21 in the Dubník cemetery, who was buried with 
a newborn without any artefacts (Bujna 1989, 
270–271, Fig. 26, Pl. XXIV: 1–12; XXVA: 13–20). 
This indicates that the overall number of graves of 
children under 1 year old in cemeteries is small, 
especially considering their mortality rate. This 
may suggest that the absence of this age group in 
cemeteries was selective, as seemingly evidenced 
by numerous burials of children of this age in 
settlements (Ramsl 2010, 88; Beilke-Voigt 2018, 
14  At the Ludas cemetery, cremation grave 1051 contained 
the remains of a child around 1 year old and the cremated 
bones of an adult’s head, possibly as the remainder from a 
collective pyre (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 65–67, Fig. 102–104, 
Pl. XXXVIII; XXXIX: 1–4; Tankó 2012, 208; Tankó, Tankó 
2012, 252–253, 257).
Fig. 6: Zvonimirovo cemetery. Ground plan of grave LT 
117. Grey – pottery.
Sl. 6: Grobišče Zvonimirovo. Tloris groba LT 117. Sivo 
– keramika.
72 Marko DIZDAR
82–83; Trebsche 2020, 424). It is assumed that 
the expected mortality rate for children, as the 
most vulnerable group, was around 50% during 
prehistory, with infant or child mortality during 
the first year ranging from 20% to 30%. Children 
had a higher risk of mortality, especially in the 
early stages of life, due to various diseases, infec-
tions, nutrition, etc. The most critical times are 
considered to be the pregnancy, childbirth, and 
the first seven days after birth (e.g. Goodman, 
Armelagos 1989; Scott 1999; Chamberlain 2006; 
Lewis 2007; 2011; 2016; Redfern 2007; Bacvarov 
2008; Fahlander 2011; Finlay 2013; Gilmore, 
Halcrow 2014; Kamp 2015; Murphy, Le Roy 2017; 
Halcrow et al. 2017, etc.). The causes are found in 
weaker immunity and stressful changes to which 
children were exposed (Rebay-Salisbury 2017a, 
67; 2017b, 175; 2018a, 94, 99; Wendling 2020, 66; 
Avery et al. 2022, 4). Also, it can be seen that a 
larger number of women usually die around the 
age of 20, which is associated with pregnancy and 
postpartum issues. The fact that women often died 
young, around the age of 20, has been shown by 
analyses of investigated cemeteries in Brežice (Hin-
cak, Guštin 2011, 244–245), Malé Kosihy (Bujna 
2019, 62), and Dürrnberg (Wendling 2020, 67–68).
In the Zvonimirovo cemetery (Suppl. Table 1) 
and in cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin, there is 
a significantly larger number of graves of children 
of the next age group (1–7 years), which can be 
explained by the integration of children of this 
age into the community. It can be seen that this 
age group has a larger number of graves in which 
the child is alone (Suppl. Table 5) compared to 
the graves where children of this age were buried 
with an adult,15 usually a woman (Suppl. Table 
6) (Ramsl 2010, 96). In rare cases, a grave con-
tained three individuals including a child of this 
15  Double burials of a child aged 1–7 years with some of 
the adults are also known from the Franzhausen cemetery, 
graves 53 and 330, containing the remains of a woman and 
a child (Ramsl 2011, 25), but without specifying the age 
of the deceased or documenting archaeological finds; at 
the Au cemetery, there are graves 3 and 10 with a woman 
and a child (Nebehay 1971, 141–142, 147–148, Fig. 5, Pl. 
I: 8; II: 2–11; V: 8–9; VI: 2–4), but without specifying 
the age of the children. Similarly, at the Göttlesbrunn 
cemetery, the looted inhumation grave 11 is described as 
a burial of a woman and a child of an undetermined age 
(Karwowski, Czubak 2019, 72, Fig. 4). Double burials of a 
woman and a child are also known from the Walpersdorf 
and Inzersdorf cemeteries (Morschhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 
2021, 61, 64, Fig. 7).
age group. There are notable differences between 
specific cemeteries when comparing the number 
of single burials of children and the number of 
burials together with adults (Suppl. Table 2). In 
all cemeteries except for Malé Kosihy, the graves 
of children of this age group are more numerous 
than those of the older age group (Suppl. Table 
2). The largest number of graves of children of 
this age group is known from the Palárikovo I 
cemetery, where each child was buried alone, and 
from the Mannersdorf cemetery. Interestingly, the 
bi-ritual grave 345/B in the Ménfőcsanak cemetery 
was above a bi-ritual double grave, 345/A. It is the 
inhumation burial of an adult woman, with the 
cremated remains of a child aged 0.5–5.5 years 
placed next to the woman’s head (Vaday, Tankó 
2020, 458–461).
When analysing the graves of children aged 
8–14 years, differences are again noticeable. There 
are four such graves at the Zvonimirovo cemetery 
(Suppl. Table 1), with the triple grave LT 12 probably 
including a girl aged 10–14 years. Graves of children 
of this age group are known in large numbers from 
other cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin (Suppl. 
Table 2). Children of this age group were most 
often alone in the grave (Suppl. Table 7), as shown 
by some graves from the Ménfőcsanak cemetery 
(Tóth 2015, 15–16). The graves where children aged 
8 to 14 years were buried with an adult, again most 
often with a woman, are significantly fewer than the 
previous age group (Suppl. Table 8).
The results of the analysis show that, after higher 
mortality up to 1 year of age, children continued 
to represent a vulnerable group in the community, 
susceptible to various diseases leading to increased 
mortality. One probable reason is the part of the 
course of life when children ceased to be breastfed 
and began a normal diet, which happened between 
1.5 and 4 years of age (Knipper et al. 2017; Mays 
et al. 2017, 6–8)16 and probably affected their 
immunity (Ulrich-Bochsler, Rüttimann 2014, 73; 
Halcrow, Ward 2018). Also, the investigation of the 
Late La Tène settlement of Basel – Gasfabrik and 
two nearby cemeteries has shown that the majority 
of children died before the age of 4 (Rissanen et al. 
2013, 136–137, 139–140; Pichler et al. 2015, 261; 
2017, 13). A higher number of child deaths is also 
noticeable in an older age group – between 8 and 
16  For information on different diets in childhood and 
adulthood, see e.g. the results of analyses for the Seminario 
Vescovile cemetery in northeastern Italy, dating from the 
3rd to the 1st century BC: Laffranchi et al. 2022, 522.
73Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
11 years – which is associated with entering puberty 
and the increase in work activities performed by 
children of that age. A decrease in mortality occurs 
towards the end of childhood and in adolescence 
(Ulrich-Bochsler, Rüttimann 2014, 71–73; Jud 2014, 
100–101), as evidenced by the number of graves of 
this age group at Zvonimirovo and other cemeteries 
in the Carpathian Basin (Suppl. Table 2).
Graves of adolescents at La Tène cemeteries
In addition to the children’s graves in Zvoni-
mirovo, graves of adolescents aged 15 to 20 are 
particularly interesting. According to some earlier 
remarks, these adolescents were already considered 
adult members of the community (Dizdar 2013, 
40–41; 2020a, 133), with their social age show-
ing significant differences compared to younger 
deceased persons. For now, only one such grave 
has been identified at the Zvonimirovo cemetery 
(Suppl. Table 1) – LT 125, where a 14–18-year-
old male was buried (Fig. 7). The grave included 
weapons (sword, spear, shield boss), costume items, 
and ceramic vessels. Thus, the mortuary profile of 
this individual significantly differs from the graves 
of children, and its items resemble those in the 
graves of adult males in the cemetery.
Fig. 7: Zvonimirovo cemetery. Ground plan of grave LT 125. Brown – iron object; green – bronze object; grey – pottery.
Sl. 7: Grobišče Zvonimirovo. Tloris groba LT 125. Rjavo – železni predmet; zeleno – bronasti predmet; sivo – keramika.
74 Marko DIZDAR
Graves of this age group (juveniles, 15–18/20 
years) have been recorded in all cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin, where they are notably fewer 
compared to children’s graves. They are slightly 
more numerous at the cemeteries of Sajópetri, 
Dubník, Maňa, Malé Kosihy, and Fântânele – 
Dealul Iuşului//La Gâţa, and less numerous at 
the cemeteries of Ludas and Palárikovo I (Suppl. 
Table 2). Also, double graves with an adult and 
an adolescent or two adolescents are rare.17 The 
reason might be the fact that adolescents are the 
healthiest part of the community, which could 
explain their underrepresentation in cemeteries 
(Avery et al. 2022, 3–4).18
Similar to grave LT 125, it can be observed 
that males of this age group often have weapons 
placed in their graves (Suppl. Table 12). Grave 
16 in the Dobova cemetery probably contained a 
male under 20 years of age, buried with a spear, a 
spear butt, two fibulae, and vessels (Guštin 1984, 
330; Hincak, Guštin 2011, 249). Also, grave 39 in 
the Pećine cemetery near Kostolac contained an 
individual aged 16–17 with two bracelets on the 
left forearm and an iron spear and a knife next to 
the head (Jovanović 2018, 94–95, Pl. 49). Males 
of this age group in cemeteries in the Carpathian 
Basin are often equipped with a sword in scabbards, 
a spear, and a shield, which never appear in such 
combinations in the graves of children, who only 
rarely had a spear placed in their graves. There is 
the interesting idea that these young warriors were 
organized into warrior groups, which are a cross-
cultural phenomenon, potentially representing the 
military force of the community (Wendling 2013). 
The graves contain numerous costume items and 
ceramic vessels, and exceptionally other types of 
items, as seen in grave 904 in the Ludas cemetery, 
containing a male, aged around 20, who was also 
involved in craftsmanship (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 
46–47, Fig. 67–68, Pl. XXIV–XXVI). Few graves 
of men of this age have no finds (e.g. Bujna 1989, 
17  Grave 912 in the Gencsapáti cemetery contained a 
16–18-year-old male and a 10–14/16-year-old girl with-
out any items (Ilon, Nagy 2010, 87, 89, Fig. 29); at the 
Inzersdorf cemetery, grave 282 contained a 31–40-year-old 
man and a younger individual aged 13–18 years, with few 
items (Neugebauer 1996, 121–122, Pl. 5; 11; 20; 33; 37: 1, 
3); the burial of two underage females in grave 18 at the 
Oberndorf cemetery (Ramsl 2018, 205).
18  The larger number of graves listed in Suppl. Table 
12 is partly based on the fact that the results of the an-
thropological analysis for certain cemeteries just indicated 
a younger person.
252–253, Fig. 7). Similarly to the graves of adoles-
cent males, the graves of women (or girls) of this 
age group often have more costume and jewellery 
items than children’s graves (Suppl. Table 12). This 
would already designate them as adult community 
members, with some being richly equipped, and 
only rarely without any items (e.g. Gardelková-
Vrtelová, Benadík 2021, 215, Pl. XVIII: 2). Along 
with grave LT 22 (Dizdar 2020a), another interest-
ing example is the triple grave LT 12 with a girl 
aged 10–14 who was equipped with costume items 
like an adult woman and buried together with a 
child under 1 year of age. Perhaps this girl had 
already given birth, leading to her death and the 
death of the child.
The results of the analysis of mortuary profiles 
of adolescents in cemeteries in the Carpathian 
Basin, especially when compared to those recorded 
in children’s graves, raise an interesting question 
of the relationship and connection between the 
biological and the sociological age of the deceased 
(Halcrow, Tayles 2008; 2011). Can those aged 14 
to 15 in the Zvonimirovo cemetery be considered, 
given their status in the community, as already 
adult individuals who could enter into marital 
unions (Dizdar 2013, 40–41; 2020a, 133)?19 
This is probably connected to puberty, which 
girls typically undergo between the ages of 10 
and 13, and boys between the ages of 12 and 16 
(Rebay-Salisbury, Pany-Kucera 2020, 3), and the 
onset of fertility, around the age of 14 for girls 
(Hofmann 2014, 31–36; Rebay-Salisbury 2017a, 
63; 2017b, 184). This transition from childhood 
to adolescence in the course of a life, recogniz-
ing both biological and social changes, may have 
represented the crucial phase in the life cycle, 
initiating a new social role of each individual 
within the family and the community (e.g. Sofaer 
Derveniski 1994; 2000; Sofaer 2004; 2011; Gowland 
2006; Thompson et al. 2014, etc.) and bringing 
certain privileges and responsibilities (Appleby 
2011, 233; Avery et al. 2022). The change in 
social age, which was undoubtedly a significant 
step in everyone’s life, was probably emphasised 
through specific rites of passage accompanying the 
changes occurring in the life of each individual 
19  Regarding a similar age when it was allowed to enter 
into marriage, which was legally set at 12 years old, or when 
certain ceremonies (rites of passage) marked the transition 
to becoming an adult member of the Roman society, see: 
Treggiari 1991; Evans Grubbs 2002; Revell 2005; Sinobad 
2005; Hopkins 2011; Larsson Lovén 2020, etc.
75Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
(Gilchrist 2004; Gowland 2006; Garwood 2007; 
2011; Wendling 2013, 11–12; Grove, Lancy 2015; 
2018; Nizzo 2018), since mortuary profiles show 
a clear difference between the graves of children 
and adolescents, while there are no significant 
differences between the graves of children of 
different ages. These unknown rites of passage, 
often probably symbolically marked, thus con-
nected two different biological and social ages 
in a life course as social and cultural constructs 
(Gowland 2006; Baxter 2008, 163; Thompson et 
al. 2014, 2; Grove, Lancy 2015; 2018; Murphy, Le 
Roy 2017, 5; Ramsl 2018, 201, 209; 2020, 159).
CHILDREN’S HEALTH
Even though the cremated remains of children 
at the Zvonimirovo cemetery are poorly preserved, 
the anthropological analysis of specific remains 
identified certain pathological changes indicating 
the biological profile of the child (Halcrow, Ward 
2018). In the case of the older child from grave 
LT 12, a mild and healed cribra orbitalia was ob-
served in the right orbit (Šlaus, Novak 2013, 517). 
The child buried in grave LT 30 exhibited severe 
active periostitis on the medial diaphyses of the 
long bones (most likely the femur). Hypoplasia of 
dental enamel on the maxillary canine was also 
observed. The presence of these defects is asso-
ciated with severe vitamin deficiencies, neonatal 
jaundice, anaemia, infectious diseases, or chronic 
malnutrition (Šlaus, Novak 2013, 519). Also, the 
child from grave LT 52 had severe active perios-
titis on the distal third of the femoral diaphysis 
according to the analysis by M. Novak.
With regard to the so far known data, examples 
of observed pathological changes on the children’s 
remains from the La Tène culture cemeteries are 
given. A Late La Tène grave at the site of Mokranjske 
Stene contained the inhumation remains of a child 
around 1.5 years old where changes were observed 
on the thigh bones, indicating malnutrition that 
could have led to death (Popović, Kapuran 2011, 
299). The double grave 699 in the Ludas cemetery 
contained the cremated remains of a child around 
1 year old where hyperostosis was noticed on 
the femur (Tankó 2012, 203, 215–216). On the 
other hand, pathological changes are more easily 
identified in children’s inhumation graves, such as 
the double child grave 814 from the Franzhausen 
cemetery. The anthropological analysis revealed 
several pathological changes indicative of a lack 
of vitamin C and iron, contributing to scurvy and 
facilitating infectious diseases. There were also 
perimortal traumas on the skulls, probably caused 
by violence (Ramsl, Nowotny 2020, 176–181). The 
inhumation remains of children from the cemetery 
of Palárikovo I are described as poorly preserved 
with poorly developed muscle attachments (Jakab 
2016). The remains of the child around 9–10 years 
old from grave 22 displayed ossa suturae lamb-
doidea, os suturae sagittalis, sutura metopica at the 
root of the nose, a noticeably large neurocranium 
(hydrocephalus?), foramen arcuale lat. dx. and a 
cleft in the posterior arch C I, along with some 
other observations on the leg bones (Jakab 2016, 
103, Pl. XII: 3). The bones of the child around 
7 years old from grave 60 displayed sutura me-
topica, os Incae bipartitum, cribra orbitalia lat. 
dx. (Jakab 2016, 111); the child aged 3–5 years 
from grave 72 had a cavity in the second molar of 
the right half of the upper jaw and both second 
molars of the mandible (Jakab 2016, 114). The 
remains of the child around 3 years old from 
grave 79 displayed a metopic suture (Jakab 2016, 
115), and the remains of a child aged 12–14 years 
from grave 95 displayed ossa suturae lambdoidea 
(Jakab 2016, 118). An exceptional discovery is 
the evidence of trepanation on the skull of the 
12–15-year-old child from grave 29 in the Gun-
tramsdorf cemetery, which had few finds (Urban 
1985, 49–50, Fig. 40). At the cemetery of Fântânele 
– Dealul Iuşului/La Gâţa, the 6–7-year-old child 
buried in grave 22 showed an epigenetic feature 
on the distal epiphysis of the left humerus (STF) 
(Berecki et al. 2022, 41, Fig. 3: 2).
The most extensive data on pathological changes 
displayed by the remains of children are docu-
mented at sites in Switzerland. A higher number 
of pathological changes was recorded for the 
remains of children (29 out of 45) from the Basel 
– Gasfabrik settlement and the two associated 
cemeteries. Cribra orbitalia and, most commonly, 
hypoplasia on dental enamel were recognized, 
with the latter observed only for the remains of 
children from the cemetery. These changes are 
considered indicators of physical stress, with 
potential causes being diseases and nutritional 
deficiencies that adversely affect a child’s immu-
nity and organism. It was noted that there was 
no difference in health and nutrition between 
children buried in the settlement and those in the 
cemetery, and that the children mostly succumbed 
to infections (Rissanen et al. 2013, 138–139, Fig. 
10; Pichler et al. 2015, 268–270, Fig. 10–11; 2017, 
76 Marko DIZDAR
13; Brönnimann et al. 2022, 130–138, Fig. 18). 
One example is the richly equipped Late La Tène 
grave 15 at the cemetery of Basel – Gasfabrik A 
with the remains of a child aged 4–5, its bones 
displaying traces of a polio infection that the 
child survived for a short period (Rissanen, Alder 
2011; Rissanen et al. 2013, 132–134, Fig. 4–5; 
Pichler et al. 2013, 476; 2015, 264–266, Fig. 7; 
2017, 14, Fig. 4–5; Brönnimann et al. 2022, 130). 
Interesting indicators of stress were observed on 
the bones of an 11-year-old child found in well 
114 of the Basel – Gasfabrik settlement. These 
suggest significant physical stress at around 4 
years of age, possibly caused by malnutrition or 
illness. There is a healed fracture at the base of 
the skull, resulting in a slight misalignment of the 
cervical spine. The injury may have occurred due 
to a severe blow to the head from an accident or 
possible violence, and the child required prolonged 
care afterwards. Finally, the left temporal bone 
displays marks of force – a hole that probably 
resulted from an arrow shot, which caused the 
violent death (Brönnimann et al. 2022, 135, 138, 
Fig. 25). The Bern – Reichenbachstrasse cemetery 
includes similar pathological changes, especially 
Cribra orbitalia, highlighted as a consequence 
of inflammatory processes and various other 
influences. The finds also include hypoplasia of 
dental enamel as a consequence of disturbances 
in nutrition and a range of other factors (vitamin 
D deficiency, calcium deficiency, etc.), pointing 
to the harsh living conditions of the children 
(Ulrich-Bochsler, Rüttimann 2014, 80–82, 89). 
The remains of the 2.5–3.5-year-old child in grave 
4 at the Ipsach cemetery display porosity on the 
right tibia and mildly porous lesions on both 
forearms, caused by vitamin deficiency (Zweifel 
2015, 114–115).
Although only a small number of pathological 
changes has been observed in the cremated remains 
of children at the Zvonimirovo cemetery and other 
La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin, we 
should emphasize that these often involve poorly 
preserved inhumation remains or small quanti-
ties of tiny cremated bones as opposed to buried 
adults (Kraus 2006, 8). Child mortality was high in 
many prehistoric communities (Kamp 2015, 177), 
with recorded pathological changes (most com-
monly Cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis) 
serving as evidence of diseases and stress caused 
by various factors, such as inadequate nutrition, 
poor hygiene, infections, etc.; it is rarely possible 
to determine the exact cause of death (Vargová, 
Horáčková 2010; Kamp 2015, 177–179; Mays et al. 
2017, 8–13). In general, anthropological analyses 
of child remains show that children were generally 
less prone to illness than adults (Lewis 2011). But 
they were still susceptible to infectious diseases, 
which were among the more common causes of 
death for children under the age of five and are 
hard to detect through anthropological analysis as 
they do not always leave traces (Ulrich-Bochsler, 
Rüttimann 2014, 73). Also, the remains of chil-
dren often do not exhibit signs of physical stress, 
as children could engage in certain household 
activities that do not leave physical traces, such 
as taking care of younger siblings (Kamp 2015, 
173–174, 180–181). Some child remains also show 
healed traumas (e.g. Lewis 2014; Halcrow, Robbins 
Schug 2023), which sometimes indicate care and 
nurturing of children (e.g. Halcrow et al. 2020), 
although such finds are rare (Mays 2014, 105).
For a more comprehensive understanding of 
the health of children, including those buried at 
the Zvonimirovo cemetery, it is also important 
to consider the living and climatic conditions 
of the community they belonged to, the level of 
healthcare, how the rearing and the course of life 
of children were organized, their work activities, 
etc. (Vargová, Horáčková 2010).
CHILDREN’S MOBILITY
The analyses of certain costume and jewellery 
items from the graves of adult women in Zvoni-
mirovo, especially bronze belts, indicate that these 
items could have arrived through cultural transfer 
to the middle Drava valley, but it is not excluded 
that they might have come together with women 
as part of their costume from neighbouring or 
distant areas (Dizdar 2020c, 211–212). One such 
’foreign’ item from children’s graves is a bronze 
fibula with figure-of-eight loops on the bow that 
comes from grave LT 22, where a child aged 12–15 
years was buried (Dizdar 2020a, 138–139). Since 
interdisciplinary analyses that would confirm 
such possibilities in Zvonimirovo are still ongo-
ing, some answers may be sought in other areas 
of the La Tène culture, where attempts have been 
made to reconstruct human mobility.
Interesting insights come from the Early La 
Tène cemetery of Dubník, where the 87Sr/86Sr 
strontium isotope analysis was conducted on 
inhumation remains from eight graves (Bujna et 
al. 2020). According to the results, the majority of 
77Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
women and children were of local origin. Grave 
32 contained a richly equipped child aged 3–4 
years with a spear (Bujna 1989, 281–283, Fig. 
40, Pl. XXXV: 1–15) that is of local origin – it 
is probably a boy with locally sourced artefacts 
(Bujna et al. 2020, 232, 237–239, Tab. 1). The 
contents of grave 20 are also of local origin: a 
richly equipped woman aged 50–60 and a child 
aged 3–4 years with two iron fibulae (Bujna 1989, 
269–270, Fig. 25, Pl. XXIIA: 13–15; XXIII: 1–12); 
the woman was laid above the child (Bujna et al. 
2020, 232, 237–239, Tab. 1). On the other hand, 
grave 29 contained a child aged 9–10 years with a 
fibula, a spindle-whorl, and three vessels (Bujna 
1989, 279, Fig. 37, Pl. XXXVIA: 1–5), apparently 
of foreign origin, with measured values charac-
teristic of areas around the upper reaches of the 
Rhine and Danube down to Budapest and the 
Tisza and Körös valleys (Bujna et al. 2020, 233, 
235–239, Tab. 1). Particularly interesting results 
have been obtained for grave 21, containing a 
woman aged 50–60 years and a newborn, with 
the woman being richly equipped with costume 
and jewellery items, while the child had no items 
(Bujna 1989, 270–271, Fig. 26, Pl. XXIV: 1–12; 
XXVA: 13–20). The woman was of foreign ori-
gin, from the southeastern Carpathian Basin, as 
indicated by the items in the grave, such as coral 
and glass beads and small ceramic spoon-shaped 
vessels (Bujna et al. 2020, 233, 235–239, Tab. 1). 
The results of the strontium and oxygen isotope 
analysis of the 11-year-old child and the woman 
around 60 found in well 114 at the Basel – Gas-
fabrik settlement indicate that the woman spent 
her early childhood in the immediate vicinity of 
the settlement and her adolescence in another 
location, probably in the broader region. For 
the child, who has a hole in the skull caused by 
a deadly arrow shot, the measured values suggest 
that its birthplace was far from Basel, possibly 
near the coast and/or in a warmer region, which 
is a rarity for children at this site (Brönnimann 
et al. 2022, 135–138, Fig. 24–25).
The results of stable strontium isotope analyses 
on Iron Age individuals in central Europe suggest 
a mobility of children older than 6 years that had 
various reasons, but particularly the strengthening 
of social relations between different communities 
(Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2015, 19–21). On some 
Late Iron Age cemeteries, such as those from the 
Early La Tène period like Nebringen and Monte 
Bibele (Scheeres et al. 2013; Hauschild et al. 2013) 
and Monterenzio Vecchio (Sorrentino et al. 2018), 
it has been observed that men were more mobile 
during childhood than women (Müller-Scheeßel 
et al. 2015, 15–18, Tab. 1). This can perhaps be 
explained by the idea that boys could acquire 
certain knowledge and skills outside their family 
and community; that is why, around the age of 
7, they were sent to skilful people such as crafts-
men, thereby creating new social connections 
(Karl 2005; 2010; Parkes 2006). The results of the 
analysis of strontium and oxygen isotopes on the 
teeth of individuals (58) of all ages buried in the 
Basel – Gasfabrik cemeteries and settlement also 
indicate childhood mobility at the regional level, 
but also between distant areas. The women show 
greater mobility, while it is concluded that the 
children, with rare exceptions, were born in the 
immediate vicinity or not far from the settlement. 
However, the final conclusion is that there are 
no clear differences in terms of gender regarding 
mobility and mortuary treatment (Knipper et al. 
2018; Brönnimann et al. 2022). On the other hand, 
the results of multi-isotopic analyses (oxygen 
(δ18O) and carbon (δ13C)) conducted for the 
Seminario Vescovile cemetery in northeastern 
Italy, which can be dated to the 3rd–1st century 
BC, demonstrate somewhat different results. 
Isotopic ratios were analysed for 49 individuals 
(23 males, 17 females, and 9 children) to explore 
possible intraindividual lifetime changes. The 
results suggest local origin for most of the indi-
viduals, with a few exceptions pointing to Alpine 
origin. The small number of non-locals suggests 
reduced mobility of this population, where men 
show slightly higher mobility, while short-distance 
movements were difficult to detect (Laffranchi et 
al. 2022). The analysis of the remains of an infant 
aged 3–6 months, who was breastfed at the time 
of death, suggests that it may have been born 
locally to a mother who migrated or that both 
the mother and the child migrated to the area of 
northeastern Italy (Laffranchi et al. 2022, 521).
MORTUARY PROFILES
OF CHILDREN’S GRAVES
– ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS
Research has shown that the community bury-
ing its dead at the Zvonimirovo cemetery shared 
many common cultural and ritual norms with 
other Late Iron Age communities in the Carpathian 
Basin. Nevertheless, some cultural particularities 
are recognized based on the analysis of mate-
78 Marko DIZDAR
rial culture, as well as items indicating cultural 
connectivity with neighbouring communities or 
even mobility between them (Dizdar 2013; 2020a; 
Dizdar, Ljuština 2019). The number and types of 
items in children’s graves in Zvonimirovo show 
differences, partly influenced by the state of 
preservation of the graves.20 Most of the graves 
containing only children have fewer items than 
the graves of adults (Suppl. Table 1), but it can be 
noticed that these often include items found in the 
graves of adults. Similar observations have been 
made in cemeteries, such as Dobova, Brežice, and 
Nova Tabla (Guštin 1984; Guštin et al. 2017), but 
also in other cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin. 
On the other hand, when it comes to graves in 
Zvonimirovo where a child was buried with an 
adult, it is hard to definitively determine which 
items belonged to the child. This type of analysis 
is much simpler for double inhumation graves 
from other La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian 
Basin, where children’s inhumation graves allow 
for the study of the functional position of items, 
which is impossible for the cremation graves in 
Zvonimirovo. Also, previous analyses of adult 
graves allow for the recognition of gender-specific 
items that also appear in children’s graves, as well 
as the possible identification of age-specific items 
that only appear in children’s graves.
Children’s graves in Zvonimirovo most com-
monly contained costume and jewellery items 
(e.g. fibulae, bracelets, beads, etc.). There were few 
items of everyday use (e.g. knives, spindle-whorls, 
sewing needles), while weaponry appeared only 
exceptionally (Suppl. Table 1). Grave goods include 
the finds of ceramic vessels and offerings of food 
with preserved animal bones, most commonly pig 
bones. Grave goods appear in varying numbers in 
the graves of children of all age groups, just like 
in the graves of adults. In Zvonimirovo, no graves 
of children without items have been identified so 
far, but there are a few of them in other La Tène 
cemeteries (Ramsl 2010, 95). Costume and jewellery 
items from children’s graves, as well as those from 
adult graves, often show traces of burning, indicating 
that the children were cremated on the pyre with 
them – they were probably costume and jewellery 
items they wore. However, found items include 
those that were not burned, but probably placed 
20  Due to the scope of the paper, this is not the occa-
sion for a detailed typo-chronological analysis of the finds 
from children’s graves at the Zvonimirovo cemetery. They 
mostly contained finds like those from the graves of adults.
in the grave during the burial ceremony (Dizdar 
2013, 34–37; 2016, 296–297). These items can be 
interpreted differently, perhaps as offerings from 
grieving family members and relatives (Cannon, 
Cook 2015). In fact, it is highly unlikely that the 
child’s own actions led to the social status in the 
community reflected in the quantity and variety 
of grave goods, especially when considering richly 
equipped graves. Therefore, the choice of items 
placed in a child’s grave was likely an expression 
of the status of family and relatives (Rissanen, 
Alder 2011, 156; Zweifel 2015, 124).
Based on the types and quantity of finds, richer 
children’s graves in Zvonimirovo (Suppl. Table 1) 
are graves LT 34 (Fig. 3) and LT 84 (Fig. 4). Grave 
LT 34 contained a child aged 5–12 years. This is 
the only child grave that includes weaponry: an 
iron spear. Costume items include five iron and 
one bronze fibula; the jewellery consists of an 
iron bracelet. In the grave, there were also three 
iron clasps, three ceramic vessels, and pig bones. 
In grave LT 84, the cremated remains of a child 
aged 4–6 years were placed in a decorated pot 
serving as an urn. The urn contained an iron and 
bronze chain, three iron fibulae, a bronze fibula, 
fragments of a burned glass bracelet, and three 
glass beads. This group of richer graves could 
probably include the burial of a child aged 10–14 
years from the triple grave LT 12, with numerous 
costume and jewellery items found alongside the 
cremated remains (Dizdar 2013, 409–415, Pl. 25: 
1–3; 26: 3–5; 27). When comparing these finds 
with those from the graves of adults in Zvonimi-
rovo, it may perhaps be assumed that a boy was 
buried in grave LT 34, while girls were buried in 
graves LT 12 and LT 84.
J. Bujna (1982) was among the first who have 
discussed the social status of children based on the 
finds from La Tène cemeteries. Group I includes 
the graves of richly equipped men and women; 
the only child grave in this group is grave 29 
from the Jászberény cemetery, containing a child 
(girl?) with costume and jewellery items. Group 
II is associated with the few children’s graves where 
spears were found; the costume items are two bronze 
or iron fibulae, the jewellery is two bronze or iron 
bracelets, and the grave goods are usually two ceramic 
vessels. Group III comprises the largest number of 
children’s graves with the finds: a single fibula 
and a bracelet, and usually a single vessel. Group 
IV is characterized by graves containing only a 
single vessel, rarely two or three, and usually no 
metal finds. Group V includes graves without finds 
79Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
(Bujna 1982, 362–364). A similar classification of 
children’s graves into three groups was proposed 
for cemeteries in Switzerland, with the observation 
that children’s graves have fewer finds than those of 
adults and they lack weaponry (Sankot 1980, 59).
Richly equipped graves of children of various 
ages (Suppl. Table 3–8) have also been found in 
other La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin 
(Ramsl 2010, 94–96); along with ceramic vessels, 
they usually contain a large number of costume 
and jewellery items, and only rarely objects of 
everyday use (e.g. knives, spindle-whorls) or 
weapons (spears). However, the question remains 
as to how much the finds from children’s graves 
actually testify to their social status (Rissanen et 
al. 2013, 135–136), since each child grave is seen 
as unique, and the type, number, and composition 
of grave finds are individual or personal (Pichler 
et al. 2017, 14). 
It was only exceptionally that graves of children 
under 1 year of age were richly equipped. An ex-
ample is the cremation grave 1051 from the Ludas 
cemetery, containing numerous items of costume 
and jewellery, as well as vessels (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 
65–67, Fig. 102–104, Pl. XXXVIII; XXXIX: 1–4).21 
The Palárikovo I cemetery includes two richly 
equipped children’s graves. Grave 64 contained a 
child around 5 years old with costume and jewellery 
items, a knife, a spindle-whorl, four pots, a coin, 
and a peach pit (Gardelková-Vrtelová, Benadík 
2021, 212–213, Pl. XVII: 2; LXVIIIB: 1–3; LXIX: 
1–26). Grave 75, surrounded by a ditch, contained 
a child aged 3–4 years with costume and jewellery 
items, including three finger-rings, one of gold and 
silver, and five vessels, one of them shoe-shaped 
(Gardelková-Vrtelová, Benadík 2021, 218–219, Pl. 
XX: 2–3; LXXIX–LXXX). We should also mention 
grave 4 from the Mannersdorf cemetery with stone 
grave architecture, where a child aged 4–5 years 
was buried with costume and jewellery items and 
vessels (Ramsl 2011, 34–36, 198, Fig. 18–19, Pl. 
31–36; 2010, 89, 91, Fig. 6; 14–15), and grave 116 
with the burial of a child aged 6–8 years with a 
stone stela, grave architecture, costume and jewel-
lery items, a knife, and three vessels (Ramsl 2011, 
72–74, Fig. 54–56, Pl. 129–134).
The analysis of more richly equipped graves 
of children at the Zvonimirovo cemetery, as well 
as those with fewer finds, shows they most often 
contain ceramic vessels, but also gender-specific 
21  The grave also contained the burnt remains of an 
adult’s skull.
costume and jewellery items of the kind found 
in graves of adult women at Zvonimirovo and in 
other La Tène cemeteries (Dizdar 2013, 211–213). 
Does this mean that these are graves of girls? For 
confirmation, additional genetic analyses should 
be conducted (Endlich 1998, 380; Rissanen et al. 
2013, 136; Pichler et al. 2015, 264; Ramsl, Nowotny 
2020, 174–176; Wendling 2020, 67). What about 
boys, and how can they be identified based on the 
material remains? Does this suggest that there was 
a culturally conditioned procedure in the mortu-
ary profile with respect to the gender of the child 
at the Zvonimirovo cemetery and other La Tène 
cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin? However, it 
is emphasized that the gender of children cannot 
be determined on the basis of the finds until a 
certain age (Burmeister, Müller-Scheeßel 2005).
Children’s graves with weaponry
The graves of boys might be indicated by the few 
children’s graves with weapons, most commonly a 
single spear, such as the one found in grave LT 34. 
Finds of shorter iron spears have been recorded in 
some other children’s graves. The nearest one to 
Zvonimirovo being the Dobova cemetery, where 
grave 20 contained a child with a small spear and 
an axe (Guštin 1984, 315, 317, 330, Fig. 4; 8; 17; 
Mauthner 2023, 70, Fig. 5: 2–3), and the Slatina 
cemetery, where grave 14 contained a small spear 
and a small axe. Therefore, this grave is considered 
to be the burial of a child, although no anthro-
pological analysis has been conducted (Pirkmajer 
1991, 29, Fig. 48, Pl. 14: 95–97; Mauthner 2023, 
71, Fig. 6: 1–2). The damaged grave 121 at the 
Nova Tabla cemetery contained a child aged 0–7 
years with a small spear, its tip driven into the 
bottom of the grave, along with fragments of two 
vessels and a bronze panel (Guštin et al. 2017, 
160, 676–677; Mauthner 2023, 71). A small axe 
was found with the cremated remains of a child 
aged 0–6 years in a pot serving as an urn in grave 
1 of tumulus 9 at the Lang – Schirka cemetery 
(Mauthner 2021, 24, Fig. 3: 1; 2023, 67, Fig. 3: 2). 
A small spear and a pot were found in grave 882 at 
the Ludas cemetery, where a child aged 7–9 years 
was buried (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 45, Fig. 65–66, 
Pl. XXIII: 5). A particularly notable grave is the 
richly equipped child grave 28/90 at the Sajópetri 
cemetery, containing the remains of a child aged 
1–7 years with a spear, iron bits, and other finds 
(Szabó, Tankó 2018, 56–58, Pl. XVIII: 5–6). At the 
80 Marko DIZDAR
Dubník cemetery, grave 32 contained a child aged 
3–4 years, likely with a spear, of which only the 
socket was preserved, along with five iron fibulae, 
two rings, and seven vessels (Bujna 1989, 281–283, 
Fig. 40, Pl. XXXV: 1–15; LII: 4; Jakab, Vondráková 
1989, 361). Based on the 87Sr/86Sr strontium isotope 
analysis, the child was of local origin and prob-
ably a boy (Bujna et al. 2020, 232, 237–239, Tab. 
1). The plundered grave 60 at the Bajč cemetery 
contained the remains of a juvenile with the spear 
butt, parts of a shield, and whetstone fragments 
(Benadík 1960, 405, Fig. 4, Pl. XIII: 4, 7). Unlike 
these graves, grave 170 from the Bucsu cemetery 
contained a child aged 7–15 years, anthropologi-
cally identified as a male, together with a spear, 
two fibulae, and also fragments of bent sword 
scabbards (Ilon, Nagy 2010, 79–80, Fig. 13–15). 
Despite being younger than 15, he was already 
buried with warrior equipment similar to that 
found in the graves of adult males.
Considering the scarcity of analogies, it can be 
seen that weapons were rarely placed in La Tène 
children’s graves. When weapons were present, 
they were usually short and light spears (Rus-
toiu, Berecki 2015a, 131–132; Rustoiu 2016a, 55; 
Mauthner 2023, 72–75). They may have been used 
for practice and preparation of the child (likely a 
boy) for its future role, as childhood is considered 
a time of learning for adulthood (Baxter 2008, 161, 
167; Gaskins, Paradise 2010; Sofaer 2015, 82–83; 
Sánchez Romero 2017, 23–30; Langley, Litster 2018; 
Röder 2022). Education of children is viewed as a 
crucial aspect of ensuring the survival and future 
of the community to which they belonged (Murphy 
2017, 1). Boys could learn through hunting when 
acquiring skills with smaller weapons, even though 
these would not affect their adult skills (Kamp, 
Whittaker 2020, 15–21). Also, a spear could have 
been placed in a child’s grave as a gift (Glansdorp 
2018, 52). Considering the comparisons with the 
graves of adults in Zvonimirovo where spears 
were found (Dizdar 2013, 142–143), as well as in 
other cemeteries, it can be assumed that grave LT 
34 contained a boy who, had he lived, might have 
become a warrior equipped with a complete set of 
weapons consisting of a sword, a spear, and a shield. 
Since other items were found in the grave, it could 
have been the burial of a member of a prominent 
family within the community. Also, it is possible 
that the children’s graves lacking gender-specific 
items are actually graves of boys (Ramsl 2020, 159) 
who seemingly acquired weapons only at a certain 
age, when their social identity changed.
Children’s graves with costume items
Children’s graves in Zvonimirovo have a sig-
nificantly higher number of gender-specific items 
characteristic of the graves of adult women. These 
include costume and jewellery items, as well as 
spindle-whorls that show individuality in their 
combinations. Similar observations were made in 
other La Tène cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin 
(Suppl. Table 3–8). In children’s graves in Zvonimi-
rovo, iron and bronze fibulae are the most common 
costume items, while belts or their parts appear less 
frequently (Suppl. Table 1). In general, bronze and 
iron fibulae are characteristic of women’s graves in 
Zvonimirovo, while iron fibulae are characteristic of 
men (Dizdar 2013, 188, 231). On the other hand, iron 
belts, along with bronze belts and iron buckles of the 
Brežice type, are a distinctive part of adult women’s 
costume and represent a recognizable element of 
their visual identity (Dizdar 2013, 213–221; Dizdar, 
Ljuština 2019, 52–54). Completely preserved iron 
belts composed of doubly twisted segments were 
found in two child graves – in grave LT 111 and 
the triple grave LT 12 (Dizdar 2013, 214–215, Pl. 
25: 1), while only a smaller part of a belt was found 
in damaged graves LT 22 (Dizdar 2020a, 133–134, 
Pl. 1: 1) and LT 108. Therefore, it is uncertain if 
these graves contained complete belts that have 
been mostly destroyed or if they contained only 
symbolic parts of belts.
Children’s graves with iron belts or their parts 
are also a rare occurrence in other cemeteries 
in the Carpathian Basin. Other finds from these 
graves suggest that they could be the graves of 
girls (Suppl. Table 3–8). For instance, at the Rezi 
cemetery, grave 22 contained an iron belt of the 
Karaburma 111 type around the child’s waist 
(Horváth 1987, 106–108, Fig. 40–41, Pl. XXI: 
8), while grave 31 contained fragments of a belt 
composed of small-diameter strap rings (Horváth 
1987, 111–112, Fig. 44, Pl. XXII: 9).22 Grave 58/129 
in the Sajópetri cemetery, which was the burial of 
a child aged 1–7 years, contained parts of a belt 
and a buckle (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 89–91, Fig. 64, 
108, Pl. XXXVII: 5–8). An iron belt composed of 
doubly twisted segments was discovered in grave 
35 at the Mátraszőlős cemetery, with the burial of 
a child aged 1–3 years (Almássy 2012, 105–106, Pl. 
XLIV: 6). Fragments of an iron belt with figure-of-
22  The mentioned graves lack the results of the an-
thropological analysis. They were identified as children’s 
graves based on the size of the grave and the deceased.
81Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
eight segments and a bronze clasp in the middle 
were found at the Maňa cemetery, in inhumation 
grave 42 containing a child (Benadík 1983, 30, Pl. 
XIX: 1). At the Malé Kosihy cemetery, fragments 
of an iron belt composed of doubly twisted seg-
ments were found in children’s graves 222 and 228 
(Bujna 1995, 55, 57, Fig. 45; 47, Pl. 27A: 2; 28A: 
6). Moreover, the richly equipped grave 64 in the 
Palárikovo I cemetery contained an iron belt made 
of small rings, which the child wore around the 
waist (Gardelková-Vrtelová, Benadík 2021, 212–213, 
Pl. LXIX: 17, 24). These examples demonstrate 
that some children in richly equipped graves were 
already equipped like adult women, and that the 
belt, based on the finds from inhumation graves, 
was already in its functional position. Cremation 
graves sometimes contained only fragments of 
belts, raising the question of whether the child 
already possessed a belt that was damaged during 
the cremation process or if only a symbolic part 
of the belt was placed in the grave. However, it is 
noticeable that children’s graves in Zvonimirovo 
and in other cemeteries have significantly fewer 
belts than the graves of adult women.
The costume items from children’s graves in 
Zvonimirovo include the mentioned finds of bronze 
and iron fibulae (Suppl. Table 1), which is in line 
with the observations made for other cemeteries 
in the Carpathian Basin. Most fibulae were found 
in the richly equipped graves LT 34 (five iron and 
one bronze fibula) and LT 84 (three iron and one 
bronze fibula). Graves LT 30 and LT 108 contained 
one bronze and one iron fibula each; in grave LT 
110, there was a single bronze fibula; in grave LT 
111, there were two bronze fibulae; remnants of an 
iron fibula were found in the damaged grave LT 
27. A uniquely shaped bronze fibula, with figure-
of-eight loops on the bow, was discovered in grave 
LT 22 (Dizdar 2020a, 133, Pl. 1: 3). It is uncertain 
whether the fibulae from the double graves LT 5 
and LT 52 and the triple grave LT 12 belonged to 
children. Perhaps the two small bronze fibulae from 
grave LT 5 could belong to a child’s costume, but 
such fibulae have also been found in the graves 
of adult women (e.g. in grave LT 90: Dizdar, 
Ljuština 2019, 57, Pl. 1: 2–3). The six bronze and 
two bimetal fibulae from grave LT 12, and maybe 
some smaller iron fibulae, probably belonged to a 
child’s costume (Dizdar 2013, 413–415, Pl. 26: 3–5, 
27). Different numbers of fibulae have also been 
recorded in children’s graves in the Carpathian 
Basin (Suppl. Table 3–8), while interesting insights 
come from children’s graves in Switzerland. In the 
cemeteries of Basel – Gasfabrik A and B, fibulae 
are a frequent find in children’s graves, where 
they sometimes appear in greater numbers than 
in the graves of adults, similar to other costume 
and jewellery items. Fibulae are often found on the 
pelvis or feet of children, suggesting their use in 
wrapping the body in fabric (Rissanen et al. 2013, 
135, Fig. 7; Pichler et al. 2013, 476; 2015, 263–264; 
Brönnimann et al. 2022, 130). On the other hand, 
in the Bern – Reichenbachstrasse cemetery, there 
were fewer fibulae in children’s graves than in adult 
graves (Jud 2014, 102–103, Fig. 96).
A particular phenomenon at the Zvonimirovo 
cemetery is the placement of belts or their parts 
in the graves of newborns and young children, 
as seen in graves LT 108 and LT 111, or glass 
bracelets in grave LT 110, which, judging by their 
dimensions, were probably not worn by children. 
The practice of placing items belonging to adult 
women or items showing signs of wear in the 
graves of children has already been documented at 
cemeteries during the Late Iron Age (Kraus 2002, 
110; Gustavs 2004; Lettman 2018). Perhaps these 
items indicate what was expected for the child to 
wear had it lived to adulthood – maybe they rep-
resent the unrealized life span of an adult woman. 
Some children’s graves from Swiss cemeteries might 
testify to this. In the Late La Tène grave 15 at the 
cemetery of Basel – Gasfabrik A, a richly equipped 
child aged 4–5 years was buried in fine woollen 
fabric; its remains show traces of polio infection. 
Only a small lignite ring was found on the child’s 
hand, while other jewellery and costume items 
were placed in the abdominal area and seem to 
belong to an adult woman judging by their size. 
These items are assumed to have been inherited 
and placed in the child’s grave to represent the 
role this child would have had in adulthood had it 
lived (Rissanen, Alder 2011; Rissanen et al. 2013, 
132–134, Fig. 4–5; Pichler et al. 2013, 476; 2015, 
264–266, Fig. 7; 2017, 14, Fig. 4–5; Brönnimann et 
al. 2022, 130). Similarly, the richly equipped grave 
4 at the Ipsach cemetery contained a child aged 
2.5–3.5 years, equipped with numerous costume 
items like an adult woman (Zweifel 2015, 118–119, 
Fig. 12–16, Pl. 3: 7–10; 4; 5: 1–14).
Children’s graves with jewellery items
Regarding jewellery, children’s graves LT 84, LT 
110, and LT 111 in the Zvonimirovo cemetery in-
cluded burned fragments of glass bracelets (Suppl. 
82 Marko DIZDAR
Table 1), which are commonly found in the graves 
of adult women (Dizdar 2013, 252–255; Dizdar, 
Ljuština 2019, 57). Also, grave LT 34 included an 
iron bracelet of the kind known from the graves 
of men (Dizdar 2013, 203–207); along with the 
spear, this seems to indicate that this grave is the 
burial of a boy. Since these are mostly burned frag-
ments of glass bracelets, it is usually impossible to 
determine their dimensions to verify if they were 
made for children.
What sets apart the children’s graves in Zvon-
imirovo are the finds of glass beads, which rarely 
appear in the graves of adult women (Dizdar 2013, 
262–263, Fig. 91). There were three unburned glass 
beads in grave LT 84, four burned beads in grave 
LT 108, and two burned glass beads together with 
the cremated remains of children in the triple grave 
LT 12 (Dizdar 2013, 263, Fig. 91: 2–3, Pl. 25: 4–5). 
Since the glass bracelets and beads were burned on 
the pyre, it is likely that the children wore them or 
they were laid on a pyre. The way they were worn 
is indicated by the finds from inhumation graves, 
showing that beads were worn around the neck, 
although there are examples of them being found 
near the hand. In general, the number of glass beads 
in graves significantly decreased in the Middle 
La Tène as opposed to the earlier development 
phases of the La Tène culture, when inhumation 
graves of women and children contained whole 
necklaces made of glass beads or a combination 
of glass and amber beads (Dizdar 2013, 265), as 
evidenced by some graves (e.g. Bučany, grave 27 
from LT A: Bujna, Romsauer 1983, 288–289, Pl. X: 
11–14; Mannersdorf, grave 4 from LT B1: Ramsl 
2011, 34–36, 198, Pl. 33: 5–6, 8–9). Although less 
numerous in each grave than in earlier periods, 
glass beads are often found in Middle La Tène chil-
dren’s graves in the Carpathian Basin (Suppl. Table 
3–8) (Zepezauer 1993, 112), rarely in combination 
with a bronze pendant (e.g. Jászberény grave 56: 
Kaposvári 1969, 193). An interesting find comes 
from the Basel – Gasfabrik A cemetery, where 
grave 2 contained the remains of a 9-month-old 
child and 120 beads, some still showing traces of 
production, indicating that they were made spe-
cifically for burial (Rissanen et al. 2013, 134–135, 
Fig. 6; Pichler et al. 2015, 264, Fig. 6; 2017, 13–14, 
Fig. 2; Brönnimann et al. 2022, 132, Fig. 19). In 
fact, glass and amber beads and various pendants, 
likely serving as amulets, are characteristic finds 
in Early La Tène children’s graves (Ramsl 2010, 
95; 2020, 159; Ramsl, Nowotny 2020, 173), which 
also served as bodily ornaments (Rustoiu 2019, 
147–157). Evidence of this can be found at the 
Dürrnberg – Eislfeld cemetery, where the finds 
in children’s graves display notable variability, 
particularly in the use of different amulets and 
amber and glass beads, probably having ritual and 
symbolic significance and an apotropaic function, 
perhaps as material evidence of rites of passage 
(Wendling 2020, 66–68).
CHILDREN’S GRAVES
WITH SPINDLE-WHORLS
Another gender-identifiable item in grave LT 108 
in Zvonimirovo is represented by three ceramic 
spindle-whorls (Suppl. Table 1), which appear in 
this grave alongside a small iron knife and pos-
sibly an iron sewing needle. Spindle-whorls are 
also found in the graves of adult women, always 
one per grave (Dizdar 2013, 303; Dizdar, Ljuština 
2019, 63–64; Dizdar 2020b), as well as in other 
cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin (Dizdar 2020b), 
while they are rarely recorded in children’s graves 
(Suppl. Table 3–8). A notable find is the decorated 
spindle-whorl from the rich grave 1051 at the 
Ludas cemetery (Szabó, Tankó 2012, 65–67, Fig. 
102–104, Pl. XXXVIII: 19), as well as the decorated 
vessel-shaped spindle-whorl in grave 64 at the 
cemetery of Palárikovo I (Gardelková-Vrtelová, 
Benadík 2021, 212–213, Pl. LXIX: 22). Another 
interesting find is the spindle-whorl as the single 
item next to the pelvis of the child from grave 65 
at the Maňa cemetery (Benadík 1983, 38). The 
discovery of three spindle-whorls in grave LT 108, 
as well as in some other children’s graves, might 
indicate that these were the graves of girls; the 
child younger than 1 year from grave LT 108 could 
not use them, just like the child from grave 1051 
at the Ludas cemetery. These items were probably 
gifts from grieving family members – perhaps the 
mother, grandmother, sister – who offered spindle-
whorls to emphasize that the child had lost the 
opportunity to become an adult woman skilled in 
spinning (Dizdar, Ljuština 2019, 68; Dizdar 2020b). 
Somewhat older children with a spindle-whorl 
in their grave might have already known how to 
spin, and the inclusion of the spindle whorl could 
signify a period of learning and preparation for 
adulthood; it is known that children began learning 
various skills between the ages of 2 and 5 (Sofaer 
Dervenski 2000; Kamp 2001, 13; Baxter 2008, 
167–169; Gaskins, Paradise 2010, 91; Kamp 2015, 
173–174). In this way, spindle-whorls in La Tène 
83Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
children’s graves, similar to spears in the graves 
of boys, can be considered at a symbolic level as 
defining their future roles in the community; the 
child, who passed away prematurely, is portrayed 
in its future role. After its death, it assumed its 
intended status had it reached adulthood (Zweifel 
2015, 124–126). The probable learning of spinning 
techniques during childhood also indicates the 
economic importance of children in communities 
and their contribution to their own households, 
where the time spent learning skills and acquiring 
knowledge is also seen as a period of socialization 
in which children actively participated (Redfern 
2007, 174; Baxter 2008, 165, 168; Sánchez Romero 
2008; Lancy, Grove 2010; Thompson et al. 2014, 3; 
Kamp 2015, 180–182; Röder 2015; 2018, 130–141; 
Little, Lancy 2016; Mays et al. 2017, 13; Murphy 
2017, 1; Lancy 2018; Langley, Litster 2018).
CHILDREN’S GRAVES
WITH CERAMIC VESSELS
Ceramic vessels are one of the most numerous 
finds in the children’s graves in Zvonimirovo, as 
well as in other La Tène cemeteries in the Car-
pathian Basin. Grave goods include pig parts, 
documented in graves LT 30 and LT 34, which 
are also found in the graves of adults (Radović 
2013). The number of vessels in the graves 
ranges from one to three (Suppl. Table 1); they 
are pots, bowls, and kantharoi, with pots being 
the most common. Vessels of these shapes, sizes, 
and techniques of production and decoration are 
also found in the graves of adults (Dizdar 2013, 
268–273). Smaller-sized vessels are recorded only 
in some children’s graves. There was a smaller pot 
in grave LT 111; grave LT 5 (Dizdar 2013, 400, 
Pl. 12: 1) also contained a smaller pot, but since 
it is a grave of a woman and a child, the vessel 
cannot be definitively associated with the burial 
of the child. Triple grave LT 12 included a small 
decorated pot, which, considering its position next 
to the cremated bones of two children, might be 
associated with their burial (Dizdar 2013, 416, Fig. 
157, Pl. 29: 1). We should also mention the small 
handmade kantharos from grave LT 27, but this 
form is characterized by small dimensions since 
it is a drinking vessel. Kantharoi of the same size 
also appear in the graves of adults (Dizdar 2013, 
339–346, Fig. 136). Vessels of small dimensions 
are not unique to children’s graves, as testified by 
grave LT 11 which included smaller vessels – a bowl 
and a cup (Dizdar 2013, 409, Pl. 19: 1–2) – and 
especially by the discovery of a miniature cup in 
the richly equipped warrior’s grave LT 45 (Dizdar 
et al. 2014, 84, Fig. 10: 3). These vessels could 
have been used for serving food and drinks, and 
even for medicinal or pharmaceutical purposes. 
Among these vessels, the miniature pot-shaped 
vessel from grave LT 34 stands out in terms of 
dimensions, as its shape corresponds to pots of 
much larger dimensions, which are found in large 
numbers inside the graves of adults. This grave 
also included a bowl that is smaller than those 
appearing in the graves of adults.
Children’s graves at the cemeteries in the Car-
pathian Basin also contain a varying number of 
ceramic vessels, which are sometimes the only find 
in the grave. One grave usually contains one to 
three vessels, combining pots and bowls, but there 
are also instances of graves containing five to seven 
vessels, regardless of the child’s age (Suppl. Table 
3–8). These vessels are typically wheel-thrown, 
just like those found in the graves of adults. Oc-
casionally, children’s graves include miniature 
vessels like the one from grave LT 34, which could 
be handmade. For example, grave 89/169 in the 
Sajópetri cemetery, containing a child aged 4–6 
years, included two bowls and two large pots, but 
also two handmade miniature pots, documented as 
being in the grave fill (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 129, Pl. 
LX: 1–2). A similar handmade miniature pot was 
found in grave 13/59, containing a man aged 15–20 
years (Szabó, Tankó 2018, 36, Pl. IX: 8), indicating 
that such vessels can also be found in the graves 
of somewhat older individuals. The only find in 
grave 354 on the Horný Jatov cemetery, where a 
child was buried, was a handmade miniature pot 
with four protrusions (Benadík et al. 1957, 27, Pl. 
VI: 8). At the Mannersdorf cemetery, interesting 
handmade miniature vessels have been found in 
several graves that contained no remains of chil-
dren, but can probably be considered children’s 
graves because of the dimensions of the burial pits 
and the finds. Grave 95 included a spindle-whorl 
and three miniature vessels – two pots and a bowl 
(Ramsl 2011, 63, 204, Pl. 103: 2–3); grave 146 
included a knife and two small pots and a small 
bowl (Ramsl 2011, 82, 207, Pl. 157: 2, 4), while 
grave 223, with stone architecture, contained a 
child aged 6–9 years with a miniature graphite-
coated pot next to its head (Ramsl 2011, 100, 210, 
Pl. 216: 2; 2010, 92, Fig. 12). These are coarsely 
crafted vessels; considering their dimensions, they 
could have been possessions of the child, buried 
84 Marko DIZDAR
alongside it, and it is not excluded that the children 
themselves made them.
The dimensions of the smaller pot from grave 
LT 111 or the one from grave LT 12 differ from 
the usual proportions of such vessels, so it is not 
excluded that they were used by the children whose 
graves they were later placed in. These smaller 
vessels in graves often appear in combinations 
with vessels of usual dimensions; it is very rare 
for smaller vessels to be placed in the grave of a 
child without at least one larger vessel (e.g. grave 
475 from the Malé Kosihy cemetery: Bujna 1995, 
96, Fig. 87, Pl. 40B: 1–4). Small vessels have been 
documented in a large number of children’s graves. 
The closest parallels are represented by the finds 
of two smaller bowls and a cup in the child’s grave 
20 in Dobova with two more larger pots (Mauth-
ner 2023, 70, Fig. 5: 4–6) or by a small pot and a 
bowl found in child’s grave 21 as the only items 
in the grave (Guštin 1984, 315, 317, 330, Fig. 4; 
8; 17). A small bowl was found in grave 114 at 
Nova Tabla (Guštin et al. 2017, 159, 668–669). A 
large number of small pots, mostly those of situla 
shape, and a smaller number of bowls, have been 
found in cemeteries in northeastern Hungary – in 
children’s graves or in graves where children were 
buried with an adult: Jászberény (Kaposvári 1969, 
193, Fig. 8: 8; 10: 3), Mátraszőlős (Almássy 2012, 
Pl. XLIV: 2, 5; LXVII: 6–7; LXX: 5), Tiszavasvári 
(Almássy 1998, Pl. VII: 2–3; XVI: 4; XXV: 5), Ludas 
(Szabó, Tankó 2012, Pl: XV: 2; XXXVIII: 22–23; 
XXXIX: 1, 3; XLVI: 6; XLVIII: 11), and Sajópetri 
(Szabó, Tankó 2018, Pl. IV: 2-3; XIII: 3; XXIV: 4; 
XXXVI: 17). Moreover, both children’s graves and 
adult graves in these cemeteries include smaller 
jugs with a single handle, which are a character-
istic form of the northeastern Carpathian Basin 
(Teleagă 2008, 120–122, Fig. 18), and it is impos-
sible to distinguish smaller vessels among this 
type (Repka 2017, 213). Smaller vessels, mostly 
pots, have also been found in children’s graves 
in cemeteries in Slovakia. Also, vessels of small 
dimensions, made on a potter’s wheel or by hand, 
are known from children’s graves at the Pottenbrun 
cemetery (Ramsl 2002, Pl. 23: 55.238, 55.240; 29: 
4–5; 30: 3; 32: 2; 33: 9); pots and bowls of miniature 
dimensions, made on a potter’s wheel or by hand, 
are particularly numerous in children’s graves and 
double graves at the Mannersdorf cemetery (Ramsl 
2011, Pl. 33: 17–18; 60: 1; 71: 1; 101; 103: 3; 107: 
2, 4; 107: 1; 126: 7; 149: 1; 177: 3; 206: 2; 209: 1–2; 
234). At the Bern – Reichenbachstrasse cemetery, 
it has been noted that the vessels found in adult 
graves are larger and differently shaped than those 
in children’s graves. Another difference is that the 
vessels from adult graves were more often deco-
rated, especially by painting (Jud, Ulrich-Bochsler 
2014, 47, Fig. 44–45; Jud 2014, 102–103, Fig. 96).
As shown by numerous examples, children’s 
graves of the La Tène culture contain miniature 
ceramic vessels (Ramsl 2010, 93, Fig. 14), most 
commonly those made on a potter’s wheel, but 
also those handmade, possibly by the children 
themselves (Repka 2017, 215–216, 218). Compared 
with vessels typically found in adult graves or in 
settlements, they do not have a different shape, but 
different dimensions. D. Repka (2017) conducted a 
detailed analysis of this type of the La Tène finds. 
The main challenge lies in defining the size that 
distinguishes miniature-sized vessels from those 
considered to be of standard dimensions, with the 
difference being also linked to their function (e.g. 
Jones 2013). The results of the conducted analysis 
show that smaller-sized vessels are most often found 
in the graves of women, although they are also 
present in children’s graves, emphasizing that the 
cause may lie in the smaller number of investigated 
children’s graves (Repka 2017, 207–218; 2020, 61, 
Fig. 66; 79). The hypotheses for miniature-sized 
vessels are not only that they could have been 
used by children, but also that they could have 
contained important liquids, might have been 
used in a ritual context, or could have served as 
drinking vessels (Ramsl 2011, 181; Rustoiu 2016a, 
49; Repka 2017, 215–218), exactly like the small 
handmade kantharoi from Zvonimirovo. Regarding 
miniature vessels from children’s graves, a pos-
sible explanation is that children needed smaller 
receptacles for food and drink than adults (Repka 
2017, 215), meaning that the vessels were probably 
associated with children precisely because of their 
dimensions (Kamp 2015, 182).
The analysis of ceramic vessels from children’s 
graves identifies two interesting finds of shoe-
shaped vessels in two rich graves. At the Palárikovo 
I cemetery, grave 75 from LT B2 contained a child 
with a decorated shoe-shaped vessel with a bowl-
shaped receptacle (Gardelková-Vrtelová, Benadík 
2021, 218–219, Pl. LXXX: 1). At the Mannersdorf 
cemetery, grave 4 with funerary stone architecture 
from LT B1 contained a child aged 4–5 years and 
a decorated handmade shoe-shaped vessel, while 
the size of the shoe itself corresponded to a child 
around 3 years old (Ramsl 2010, 93, Fig. 15; 2011, 
34–36, 198, Pl. 36: 21). Based on this find, P. C. 
Ramsl analysed these distinctive vessels and stated 
85Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
that they represented a special type assumed to 
have cultic or symbolic significance and most 
commonly appearing in the Carpathian Basin. 
The tradition of crafting these vessels was known 
since the Late Bronze Age, and they appeared at 
the beginning of the La Tène culture (Kohle 2015). 
They have been documented in the cemeteries of 
Dürrnberg, Gáva, Kosd from LT B–C, with the 
youngest find dating back to the Late La Tène 
period. Shoe-shaped vessels from La Tène sites 
can be divided into three groups based on shape. 
The most numerous being those like the one found 
in grave 75 at the Palárikovo I cemetery with a 
receptacle. The vessel from Mannersdorf would 
belong to the second group (Ramsl 2011, 182–183; 
Bagley 2009, 227–228, Fig. 5). D. Repka reached 
a similar conclusion (Repka 2020, 66, Fig. 67; 87; 
Gardelková-Vrtelová, Benadík 2021, 55, Fig. 12: 4).
Children’s graves with some age
specific items
Aside from miniature vessels and the more 
frequent occurrence of glass beads compared to 
graves of adult women, so far there are almost 
no objects in child graves in Zvonimirovo that 
are not present in adult graves; in other words, 
many items typically associated with the age of the 
child are absent. A similar situation can be seen 
in other cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin. One 
of the items considered characteristic for children 
is the ceramic rattle, which is a rare find at La 
Tène sites, probably because their composition 
was mostly organic. The ceramic rattle is an ar-
chaeologically recognizable object (Crawford 2009, 
59); its presence has been noted in graves dating 
as far back as the Late Bronze Age and the Early 
Iron Age (Rebay-Salisbury 2017b, 183). Rattles are 
also known from the Late Iron Age, especially in 
Late La Tène graves in the Middle Rhine region 
(Mandera 1969; Polenz 1975, 257, Fig. 17; Heun 
1999, 67; Rustoiu, Berecki 2015b, 263–265, Fig. 5: 
1, List no. 1; Rustoiu 2019, 165–166, Fig. 33: 3). It 
is emphasized that rattles, like amulets, appear most 
often in the graves of children and young women 
as more vulnerable groups in the community (Pauli 
1975, 186; Maier 2004, 141–142; Rustoiu, Berecki 
2015b, 265; Rustoiu, Gál 2018, 133–134; Rustoiu 
2019, 162–171). Rattles could probably have various 
functions, regardless of the material from which 
they were made – they could have served as musical 
instruments, magical or religious instruments, or 
children’s toys (Horváth 2010, 184–186; Rustoiu, 
Berecki 2015b, 265; Rustoiu, Gál 2018, 133–134; 
Rustoiu 2019, 170–171). Morphologically, six vari-
ants can be identified, and it is considered that they 
most likely had an apotropaic function, serving as 
objects that protected against all kinds of dangers 
or ensured the transition of the deceased to the 
afterlife (Rustoiu, Berecki 2015b, 262–271, Fig. 
4–5; Rustoiu, Gál 2018, 133–134; Rustoiu 2019, 
170–171). At the same time, in the area east of the 
Carpathians, such rattles were part of special tools 
used in magical practices. In addition to rattles, 
these tools included anthropomorphic figurines, 
miniature vessels, etc., and have been found in 
the graves of both children and adults (Rustoiu, 
Berecki 2015b, 265, Fig. 5: 2; 7: 1–3; Rustoiu, Gál 
2018, 132–133, Fig. 5; Rustoiu 2019, 166–170, Fig. 
34; Georgescu 2022, 47–48, Fig. 1). Ancient written 
sources mention rattles as an important means of 
soothing, comforting, and putting infants to sleep, 
with their depictions also found on tombstones. It 
is pointed out that there is a distinction between 
rattles for children and those for adults, which 
were used as musical instruments, but it is not 
always easy to differentiate them. Children’s rat-
tles are smaller and most often made of ceramic 
materials, only exceptionally crafted from metal, 
and can come in various shapes (Pfäffli, Fernández 
2014, 146–154).
A sphere-shaped ceramic rattle was found in grave 
595 at Kapiteljska Njiva in Novo Mesto (Križ 2001, 
65, 139, cat. no. 390; 2005, 17). However, as there 
has been no anthropological analysis of the cremated 
remains from this grave, it is unknown whether this 
is a child’s grave. A similar rattle interpreted as a 
toy, actually a hollow ceramic ball without beads, 
decorated with grooved circles, was discovered in 
the richly equipped Early La Tène child grave 23 
at the Münsingen cemetery, positioned between 
the wrist and the pelvis (Hodson 1968, 44, Pl. 12: 
646). A ceramic rattle was found in grave 5 in the 
tumulus at the Pratteln – Neuschlag site, where a 
young girl was buried. The grave is dated to LT A 
and contained costume and jewellery items. The 
rattle was located next to the head, possibly in an 
organic material bag, and decorated with circular 
punctures (Lüscher 1985, 33, 37, 43–44, 57, Fig. 
11, Pl. 5: 6; Pfäffli, Fernández 2014, 149–150, Fig. 
7–8). As mentioned earlier, ceramic rattles are 
most commonly found in Late La Tène graves in 
the Middle Rhine region, but most often without 
any data on the age of the deceased. However, at 
the Dietzenbach cemetery, a zoomorphic ceramic 
86 Marko DIZDAR
rattle was found in grave 6, which contained a 
woman aged 20–22 and an infant of the Infans 
I group. In the same cemetery, grave 7 included 
the same zoomorphic rattle with the burial of a 
pig and a chicken (Polenz 1971, 10–11, Fig. 44: 
1; 45: 1; Heun 1999, 67, 76, 86, 191–192). An in-
teresting find was documented at the Middle La 
Tène settlement of Nagyrécse – Bakónaki-patak. 
A semi-sunken house included a spindle-shaped 
ceramic rattle with seven ceramic beads. The rattle 
is decorated with incised lines featuring a phal-
lus motif in the central part. Since the rattle was 
discovered in a settlement, its interpretation is 
challenging, especially because of its unique motif 
associated with sexuality and fertility. This suggests 
that it may not be a children’s toy, and various uses 
are not excluded (Horváth 2010, 180–182, Fig. 2; 
Rustoiu, Berecki 2015b, 265, Fig. 4: 4; 6: 3).
On the other hand, ceramic rattles can also be 
found in the graves of adults. A star-shaped clay 
rattle was found at the Bucsu – Rétmelléki-dűlő 
cemetery, in grave 126, which is the cremation grave 
of a young adult, probably a woman, dated to LT 
C1; it was accompanied by a two-part iron chain 
belt, two iron fibulae, and a bronze ring. All six 
pointed protrusions are decorated with transverse 
grooves, and there are three ceramic beads inside. 
Since the rattle was found in the grave of an adult, 
it might have hung from a belt. The rattle could 
have produced sound in a ritual; because of its 
pointed shape, it is believed not to be a children’s 
toy (Ilon 2008, 289–290, Fig. 4: 1; 5; Ilon, Nagy 
2010, 77–78, Fig. 10: 1; Rustoiu, Berecki 2015b, 
265, Fig. 6: 2). A few star-shaped ceramic rattles 
are also known from antiquity; in their case, the 
protrusions are thought to imitate nipples and 
serve for sucking and biting when teething (Pfäf-
fli, Fernández 2014, 150–152, Fig. 4; 10–13). A 
ceramic rattle was found in cremation grave 1 at 
the cemetery of Fântânele – Dâmbu Popii, dated to 
LT B2. The grave included ceramic vessels, three 
iron fibulae, and two knives. The anthropological 
analysis indicates that the grave was the burial of a 
woman older than 20 years, so the rattle cannot be 
considered a toy. The rattle is egg-shaped, with a 
perforated upper part for inserting 24 grain-shaped 
clay beads. The perforation was closed with a small 
clay plug. The outside of the rattle is decorated 
with longitudinal fields bounded by incised lines, 
alternating between undecorated fields and fields 
filled with tiny punctures (Rustoiu, Berecki 2015b, 
261, Fig. 1–3; Rustoiu, Gál 2018, 130, Fig. 1–3; 
Rustoiu 2019, 164–165, Fig. 33: 1). At the Perl-
Oberleuken cemetery, ceramic rattles have been 
found in three graves, but according to the results 
of the anthropological analysis, these were adult 
graves (Glansdorp 2011, 59–60, 101, Fig. 55), so 
it is assumed that these objects were a gift from 
a grieving child who placed their favourite toy 
in the grave (Glansdorp 2011, 60; 2018, 51–52). 
These finds demonstrate that without knowledge 
of contextual data, rattles cannot be confidently 
considered items characteristic only for children. 
This might also be indicated by the burnt bronze 
jingles found in two warrior graves in Zvonimirovo 
– LT 4 and LT 12 – which were probably attached 
to clothing or to a belt and also produced sound 
(Dizdar 2013, 207–208, Fig. 11, Pl. 9: 6; 23: 4).
Children are often associated with the finds of 
small anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines 
throughout all periods, but they are rarely found in 
graves. One such simple cylindrical ceramic figurine 
with circular indentations on the head and body 
was found in grave 10 at the Tiszavasvári cemetery, 
where a 1–2-year-old child was buried. The grave 
included a pot, a fragment of a millstone, and a 
bronze bracelet of a size not matching a child but 
an adult (Almássy 1998, 59–60, Pl. IX: 2; Rustoiu 
2019, 220–224, 252, Fig. 51: 2). Also, at the Pot-
tenbrun cemetery, a small ceramic idol of unclear 
symbolism was discovered in the fill of grave 10, 
containing the burial of a richly equipped child 
aged around 1.5 years (Ramsl 2002, 29, 139, Pl. 
33: 2; 2010, 93–94, Fig. 16).
Although toys are not especially visible in the 
archaeological record, they are most commonly as-
sociated with children and are considered important 
in childhood (Brookshaw 2009, 368, 381; Crawford 
2009, 56–62; Thibault 2022, 242). They could have 
been used for the transmission of knowledge and 
skills through play and observations of the surround-
ings (Kamp 2015, 180), playing an important role 
in the socialization of children (Sánchez Romero 
2008; Kamp 2015, 181–182). During the Late Iron 
Age, toys are recognized as small-sized objects 
modelled upon objects of standard dimensions; 
they are assumed to have been used not only as 
toys but also as ritual or functional items (Kamp 
2015, 182). Most often, they are miniature vessels 
that are most commonly known from settlements, 
but they have also been found in graves, making 
the context of discovery important for their in-
terpretation (Rustoiu 2016a). It is assumed that 
children observed adults and the world around 
them, and independently attempted to create 
something for themselves, perhaps a ceramic ves-
87Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
sel. It is not excluded that they could have learned 
certain skills from more skilled peers (Kamp 2015, 
173–174, 180). The figurines from the mentioned 
two graves might be considered toys that belonged 
to the children buried in them, precisely due to 
the context of their discovery (Kamp 2015, 182), 
testifying to the individualization of both the burial 
and the items inside it (Kraus 2002, 107–108, Tab. 
1; Baxter 2005, 63; 2008, 162; Röder 2010; 2022; 
Dasen 2012; Sofaer 2015, 74; Rustoiu 2016a; Riede 
et al. 2018; 2021; Langley, Litster 2018, etc.). On 
the other hand, it is possible that the idol from 
the Tiszavasvári cemetery is a depiction of the girl 
rather than a toy; along with the found millstone 
fragment, this indicates a magical ritual (Rustoiu 
2019, 222, 224, 250). Anthropomorphic figurines 
are numerous in the northern Balkans and south 
and east of the Carpathians, while they are rare at 
La Tène sites (only a few in the eastern Carpathian 
Basin). Their creation does not require special 
craft skills, and they are considered as evidence 
of particular rituals involving magical ceramic 
dolls brought from other territories (Rustoiu 2019, 
250–257, Fig. 59–61; Georgescu 2022, 50–51, Fig. 
1). Actually, each object has its own biography and 
can be used as a toy – not only the objects made 
for the purpose, but also other objects made for a 
different reason if they are used for play at some 
point, acquiring a new layer of meaning (Crawford 
2009; Hirsch 2019; Thibault 2022, 241–245, 247; 
Röder 2022). Since they are hard to recognize from 
the archaeological standpoint, it is believed that 
research should be directed towards the activity of 
playing and how objects are used (Thibault 2022, 
242–243). Toys were most often originally made by 
adults, probably parents, perhaps specifically for 
children, reflecting the adults’ perception of what 
children actually want and transmitting their ideas, 
especially if the objects are of small dimensions and 
complex craftsmanship (Brookshow 2009, 379–381; 
Kamp 2015, 181–182; Röder 2022, 252). However, 
sometimes there might be an alternative explana-
tion, as evidenced by a find from the Late La Tène 
cemetery of Perl-Oberleuken. In cremation grave 
74, on top of the cremated remains of an adult, 
which were inside a pot serving as an urn, there 
was a ceramic figurine of a dog (Glansdorp 2010; 
2011, 59–60, 101–102, Pl. 67; 2015, 135, Fig. 3: 1; 
7: 1; 9; 2018, 49–52, Fig. 3; 4: 2). Similarly to the 
finds of rattles from the same cemetery, this could 
also be a gift from a grieving child. Such finds are 
common in this area (Polenz 1975, 272–276, Fig. 
17); a particularly interesting find is the ceramic 
figurine of a dog in grave 1 at the Bischofsheim 
cemetery, accompanied by a ceramic rattle (Polenz 
1975, 256, Fig. 2: 6).
CONCLUSION
Research has shown that the Zvonimirovo cem-
etery, along with other cemeteries of the La Tène 
culture in the Carpathian Basin, reveals complex 
communities with well-defined representations of 
individual identity through mortuary treatment 
and profiles which include the funerary rite, grave 
structure, and multiple combinations of grave as-
semblages. These communities were aware of the 
mortality of children and had culturally regulated 
procedures and contents for mortuary treatment 
similar to that of adults. This is testified by the 
results of the investigation of the Middle La Tène 
cemetery in Zvonimirovo, which uncovered 130 
graves and did the anthropological analysis for 
81 of them. The results of the analysis show that 
individuals from all age groups, including children, 
were buried in the cemetery. Twelve children’s 
graves were identified so far across the entire 
area of the cemetery, providing important contex-
tual information (Fig. 2). Children were typically 
buried alone, or occasionally with an adult, most 
commonly a woman. The same conclusions have 
been reached in other cemeteries of the La Tène 
culture in the Carpathian Basin and East Alpine 
area, where children’s graves have rarely been the 
focus of specific research (Ramsl 2010; Rustoiu 
2016a; Bujna 2019; Ramsl, Nowotny 2020; Mauthner 
2023), but also in other regions associated with 
the La Tène culture (Endlich 1998; Kraus 2002; 
2006; Tibbetts 2008). For now, best known insights 
into children’s graves and burials in settlements 
are based on research in Switzerland (Rissanen, 
Alder 2011; Pichler et al. 2012; 2013; 2015; 2017; 
Rissanen et al. 2013; Jud, Ulrich-Bochsler 2014; 
Zweifel 2015; Brönnimann et al. 2022).
The results of the integrated bioarchaeological 
analysis of mortuary profiles of children’s graves 
from the Zvonimirovo cemetery and the analysis 
of available contextual data for children’s graves 
from other cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin 
open up possibilities for studying children and 
childhood, taking into account the contributions 
of children to the environment they belonged to 
(Lillehammer 1989, 102–103; 2000; 2010, 22–24). 
Therefore, an attempt has been made to understand 
the relationships that children had with the natural 
88 Marko DIZDAR
and cultural world around them, with their sur-
roundings, encompassing their family members, 
their peers, and the entire community to which they 
belonged (Thompson et al. 2014, 2–6). However, 
children’s graves, or the recognition of everything 
that shaped their lives, cannot be viewed only 
as a reflection of life. Without knowledge of the 
graves of adults, it is impossible to create a more 
complete picture of a past community.
The results of the bioarchaeological analysis 
of children’s graves have raised many questions 
about the lives of children during the Late Iron 
Age and about their childhood (Scott 1999; Kraus 
2002, 116–117). Children are considered to be 
poorly recognizable in the archaeological sense 
because associations are made between the bodies 
of a certain biological age and items of material 
culture (Sofaer 2015, 76–77). Children’s graves are 
viewed as a cross-section of biological and cultural 
identity (Sofaer Dervenski 2000; Halcrow, Ward 
2018), defining the biological and social age of each 
individual, including children (Rebay-Salisbury, 
Pany-Kucera 2020). This allows for the explora-
tion of childhood as an important part of each 
individual’s life (Perry 2006; Baxter 2008; Muller et 
al. 2019, etc.) and of the social role of children in 
communities, where they represented a significant 
portion (Chamberlain 1997; Baxter 2005; 2008, 
159–160). As they grew, children underwent visible 
biological changes with their own material culture 
(Sofaer Dervenski 2000). The duration of childhood 
as a cultural phenomenon (Baxter 2008, 159–163; 
Kamp 2015, 173–175; Murphy 2017; Murphy, Le 
Roy 2017, 5) depended on various factors, such as 
the period, location, social and gender affiliation 
(Brookshow 2009, 366–367).
Communities, including the one from Zvonimi-
rovo, used mortuary treatments and profiles to 
demonstrate the affiliation of children to certain 
social, gender, and age categories. However, it is 
essential always to consider that mortuary profiles 
can (but do not have to) depict the gender identity, 
age identity, or social identity of the child; they 
may reflect both societal and personal choices 
(Kamp 2015, 179). Age is often not the sole ele-
ment of social organization identifiable in burials, 
and other social roles or identities can manifest 
in death. Also, children’s mortuary records may 
convey contrasting or multiple messages (Thomp-
son et al. 2014, 5–6; Murphy 2017, 1; Murphy, Le 
Roy 2017, 8–9). The death of children was prob-
ably considered an abnormal phenomenon that 
abruptly interrupted their course of life. However, 
the community was probably prepared for such 
deaths, and there existed a culturally regulated 
sequence of funerary rites. The death of a child 
in the early stages of life likely had a profound 
emotional impact on parents and other members 
of the family and the broader community, since 
their death was a loss at both an individual and a 
societal level; the death of a child influenced the 
future of the family and the community, which 
sought to preserve the memory of the children 
because they had participated in many aspects of 
their lives (Kraus 2002, 106; Murphy 2011; Kamp 
2015, 180; Zweifel 2015, 125). 
The decisions on a child’s mortuary treatment 
and profiles were likely made by the closest 
grieving relatives (Taylor 2014, 180), which is 
why children received the same mortuary treat-
ment as adults in La Tène cemeteries, including 
Zvonimirovo. Other children might have also 
played a role in funerary rites associated with 
their deceased siblings or friends (Murphy 2011, 
68–69). Although many children’s graves have 
been identified in La Tène cemeteries in the 
Carpathian Basin, their number remains small, 
especially when compared with expected child 
mortality rates (e.g. Goodman, Armelagos 1989; 
Scott 1999; Chamberlain 2006; Lewis 2007; 2011; 
2016; Redfern 2007; Bacvarov 2008; Fahlander 
2011; Finlay 2013; Gilmore, Halcrow 2014; Kamp 
2015; Murphy, Le Roy 2017; Halcrow et al. 2017, 
etc.). This would imply that not all children were 
buried in cemeteries, indicating that burial prac-
tices were selective and culturally influenced. This 
is shown by the finds of children’s burials in La 
Tène settlements, especially those of the young-
est age group. However, the number of graves in 
cemeteries and burials in settlements still does 
not seem to explain the insufficient representa-
tion of the youngest children, which opens up 
the possibility to consider other, archaeologically 
invisible funerary practices. In any case, mortu-
ary treatment indicates that funerary practices 
for children were as complex as those for adults. 
When analysing children’s graves in cemeteries, 
there are some differences compared to adults – 
differences in mortuary profiles, in terms of the 
items placed in the graves, where it is hard to 
understand the norms and rules that governed 
the selection of these items. It is impossible to 
conclude with certainty whether the finds in the 
grave reflect the daily life of the child that owned 
or wore them, and the question will always arise 
as to whether the items correspond to the child’s 
89Children's graves at the Middle La Tène cemetery of Zvonimirovo (Croatia)
everyday attire or indicate its status (Kraus 2002, 
108; Kamp 2015, 179). Sometimes it is observed 
that items placed in children’s graves do not match 
their dimensions or had already been in use (Kraus 
2002, 110; Gustavs 2004; Lettman 2018), which 
may suggest that the prematurely deceased child 
in the grave is depicted in a future role. Symboli-
cally, such items might represent a missed social 
age and an unrealized role in the community. On 
the other hand, some children were buried in a 
manner characteristic of children (Zweifel 2015, 
124–126). Also, richly equipped graves of children, 
which do not differ in the quality and quantity of 
finds from adult graves, probably indicate that not 
all items of costume, jewellery, and the ceramic set 
of vessels were in the child’s possession. It is unlikely 
that the child’s own actions in the community led 
to the social status reflected in the quantity and 
variety of grave goods, so such graves actually 
reflect the status of family and relatives (Rissanen, 
Alder 2011, 156; Zweifel 2015, 124). This would 
mean that the depicted status was not dependent 
on age. The majority of finds indicate that they 
were not intended solely for placement in children’s 
graves, just as there are no visible differences in 
find assemblages in children’s graves based on age. 
However, certain items in children’s graves, such as 
amulet pendants, which are particularly common 
in Early La Tène graves, might be evidence of an 
emotional connection between the burial and 
the child (Röder 2010, 8). Amulets could have 
been specially crafted for the child to protect 
it from premature death or accident, and were 
placed in the grave to provide protection even 
after death, as they could not do so themselves 
(Pauli 1975, 161; Sankot 1980, 50; Ramsl 2010, 
95). The differences in mortuary profiles at the 
Zvonimirovo cemetery, and at other cemeteries in 
the Carpathian Basin, can be seen when compar-
ing the graves of children and adolescents, and 
it is probably evidence of the biological change 
that also manifested as a change in social iden-
tity. Children probably underwent certain rites 
of passage as they transitioned from childhood, 
possibly often marked by events that posed sig-
nificant challenges before them. Subsequently, 
they faced new times and challenges in which 
they were certainly helped by everything they 
had learned by playing and observing their par-
ents and older community members. This study 
stressed the mortuary treatment and profiles of 
children buried at the Zvonimirovo cemetery who 
died prematurely probably due to some biological 
deficiencies that interrupted their childhood. 
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Grobišče Zvonimirovo je trenutno edino sis-
tematično raziskano grobišče latenske kulture na 
severu Hrvaške. V raziskavah med letoma 1993 
in 2019 je bilo na površini 3.968 m2 izkopanih 
130 žarnih grobov. Vsi grobovi, razen enega, so 
iz srednjega latena (LT C2), torej časa od prehoda 
3. v 2. st. pr. n. št. do začetka druge polovice 2. 
st. pr. n. št. Pri dosedanjih analizah je bila pozor-
nost namenjena grobovom moških, opremljenih 
z orožjem, ter grobovom žensk z različnimi deli 
noše in nakitom (Majnarić-Pandžić 2001; Dizdar 
2013; 2016; 2020a; Dizdar et al. 2014; Dizdar, 
Ljuština 2019). Rezultati antropološke analize 
kažejo, da so na grobišču pokopavali pokojnike 
vseh starostnih skupin, tudi otroke. Ob tej prilo-
žnosti je bioarheološka analiza zajela vse grobove 
s kremiranimi ostanki otrok, ki so bili ob smrti 
stari do 14 let (Sofaer Dervenski 2000). V analizo 
so bili vključeni tudi grobovi mladostnikov, starih 
od 15 do 20 let, da bi ugotovili razlike v identiteti 
in statusu v skupnosti, ki so jih nakazovale prejšnje 
analize (Dizdar 2013, 40–42; 2020a).
Ker rezultatov antropoloških analiz za raziskana 
grobišča latenske kulture na sosednjih območjih 
(v jugovzhodnem delu Karpatske kotline, kjer 
so živeli Skordiski, ter jugovzhodnem delu Alp 
in jugozahodni Panoniji, kjer so živeli Tavriski) 
najpogosteje ni, smo otroške grobove z grobišča v 
Zvonimirovem primerjali z rezultati bioarheoloških 
analiz, opravljenih na grobiščih latenske kulture v 
Karpatski kotlini (sl. 1). Na teh grobiščih so bili 
odkriti skeletni in žgani grobovi otrok, pri analizi 
smo upoštevali vse razpoložljive podatke. Omeniti 
velja, da so bili otroški grobovi z grobišč v Kar-
patski kotlini le redko predmet posebnih raziskav 
(Ramsl 2010, tab. 1; Rustoiu 2016a; Bujna 2019; 
Ramsl, Nowotny 2020). Izstopa edina novejša študija 
otroških grobov na območju vzhodnih Alp (Mauth-
ner 2023). Podobno velja tudi za druga območja 
latenske kulture (npr. Endlich 1998; Kraus 2002; 
2006; Tibbetts 2008). Podrobno analizirani so bili 
samo otroški grobovi z nekaterih grobišč v Švici, 
denimo Basel-Gasfabrik (Rissanen, Alder 2011; 
Pichler et al. 2012; Rissanen et al. 2013; Pichler 
Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču
v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
Povzetek
100 Marko DIZDAR
et al. 2013; 2015; 2017; Brönnimann et al. 2022), 
Bern-Reichenbachstrasse ( Jud, Ulrich-Bochsler 
2014) in Ipsach (Zweifel 2015).
Otroške grobove z grobišča v Zvonimirovem 
bomo primerjali z rezultati bioarheoloških analiz, 
opravljenih za grobišča latenske kulture v Karpat-
ski kotlini, od koder so znani grobovi otrok vseh 
starostnih skupin. Raziskanih grobišč je veliko, 
večjih z znanimi bioarheološkimi podatki pa 
malo. Evidentirani so skeletni in žgani grobovi, 
antropološke analize so bile pogosteje opravljene 
pri skeletnih grobovih (sl. 1). Za popolno bioarhe-
ološko analizo otroških grobov v Karpatski kotlini 
je poleg antropoloških podatkov pomembno tudi 
poznavanje kontekstualnih podatkov in grobnih 
sestojev,1 kar pa ni pogosto. Tako so za nekatera 
grobišča, raziskana na Madžarskem, znani antropo-
loški podatki, vendar brez arheološkega konteksta 
(Kiszelyné, Kiszely 1967; Zoffmann 2010; 2012; 
Tóth 2015; Balázs et al. 2015; Hornok, Tóth 2016 
itd.). Enako velja za nekatera grobišča v Avstriji 
(Engelhardt 1969; Nebehay 1971; Ramsl 2010, tab. 
1; 2016; 2018; Karwowski, Czubak 2019; Mor-
schhauser, Pollak-Schmuck 2021), na Slovaškem 
(Benadík et al. 1957; Benadík 1960; Chropovský 
1958; Dušek 1960; Rejholcová 1977; Benadík 1983; 
Ratimorská 1981) in Romuniji (Berecki et al. 2022; 
Gál et al. 2021, 142, tab. 13; 18; 23–24). 
Za primerjave grobnih sestojev otrok, najdenih 
na grobišču Zvonimirovo, so upoštevana le tista 
grobišča iz Karpatske kotline, za katera je bila 
objavljena popolna bioarheološka analiza. Čeprav 
je zaznati kronološko razliko med temi grobišči 
in tistim v Zvonimirovem – pokopi na njih se 
začnejo na začetku latenske kulture in trajajo do 
konca LT C1 ob koncu 3. st. pr. n. št. – gre za 
spoznanja, ki odpirajo marsikatero raziskovalno 
vprašanje. Odgovore lahko vsaj delno ponudi ce-
lostni pristop k interdisciplinarnemu raziskovanju. 
Z analizo otroških grobov v Zvonimirovem smo 
želeli raziskati položaj in vlogo otrok v skupnosti. 
Kako je skupnost pri pogrebnem obredu2 obravna-
vala otroke? So bili ti pri obravnavani enako kot 
odrasli? So bili vsi otroci pokopani na grobišču? 
1  Izraz grobni sestoj pomeni organizacijo vsebine 
groba (posmrtnih ostankov, pridatkov, arhitekture groba) 
in povezave oz. odnose med posameznimi predmeti ali 
strukturami.
2  Izraz pogrebni obred oz. ritual pomeni vsa dejanja, 
običaje in prakse, povezane s pogrebom – od priprave 
telesa, izbire kraja pokopa, uporabe obrednih predmetov 
do simbolike. Zajema celoten kontekst kulturnih in du-
hovnih dimenzij.
Ali se kažejo razlike pri obravnavi otrok glede 
na njihovo starost? Katere najdbe se pojavljajo v 
otroških grobovih in v kolikšnem številu oz. ali 
je mogoče prepoznati starostno in spolno dolo-
čljive predmete v primerjavi z grobovi odraslih? 
Ali lahko po najdbah v otroških grobovih prepo-
znamo morebitne spremembe v tem, kako so bili 
otroci za življenja obravnavani in kako se je njihov 
družbeni status glede na materialno kulturo lahko 
spremenil? Rezultati antropoloških analiz pričajo 
o morebitnih patoloških spremembah, ki kažejo 
na zdravstveno stanje otrok in možne vzroke 
njihove prezgodnje smrti, druge analize pa lahko 
kažejo tako na prehrano otrok kot tudi na njihovo 
morebitno mobilnost. To je le nekaj raziskovalnih 
vprašanj, na katera bomo z uporabo razpoložljivih 
podatkov odgovorili pri analizi otroških grobov z 
grobišča Zvonimirovo, pa tudi z drugih latenskih 
grobišč v Karpatski kotlini (sl. 1).
OTROŠKI GROBOVI NA GROBIŠČU
V ZVONIMIROVEM 
Od 130 raziskanih žganih grobov je bila antro-
pološka analiza doslej opravljena na posmrtnih 
ostankih iz 81 grobov. Del rezultatov je bil ob-
javljen (Šlaus, Novak 2013) in pričajo o biološki 
identiteti pokojnikov. Iz izsledkov je razvidno, da 
so na grobišču posmrtni ostanki ljudi vseh starosti, 
kar kaže na populacijski profil skupnosti. Doslej 
je bilo ugotovljenih 12 grobov s pokopi otrok, 
mlajših od 14 let. Raztreseni so bili po celotnem 
grobišču (sl. 2), v enem grobu je bil pokop moške 
osebe v puberteti (tab. 13). Otroci so bili največ-
krat pokopani sami, torej kot edini pokojnik v 
grobu (tab. 1). Njihove sežgane ostanke so našli 
kot kupček na dnu grobne jame (sl. 3; 5–6). Samo 
v grobu LT 84 so bili kremirani ostanki otroka z 
deli noše in nakitom položeni v lonec, ki je služil 
kot žara (sl. 4). V dveh grobovih so bili posmrtni 
ostanki otroka skupaj s posmrtnimi ostanki odrasle 
ženske (LT 5 in LT 52). V obeh grobovih so bili 
upepeljeni ostanki otroka na istem kupčku kot 
upepeljeni posmrtni ostanki ženske, kar nakazuje, 
da sta bila sežgana na isti grmadi. Edinstven je grob 
LT 12 (Majnarić-Pandžić 2001) s tremi pokojniki. 
Sežgane kosti so bile najdene v vzhodnem delu 
groba, pri čemer sta opazni dve večji koncentraciji 
– v severovzhodnem delu so bili najdeni ostanki 
3  Tabele s podatki so na voljo na povezavi http://iza.
zrc-sazu.si/pdf/razno/Dizdar_Suppl_Tables_AV_76_2025.pdf
101Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
moškega, v jugovzhodnem delu pa otrok (Dizdar 
2013, 409–417, sl. 157, t. 20–30; 2016, 305).
Zanimiv je vpogled v analize otroških grobov z 
drugih grobišč latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini. 
Na grobiščih Ludas, Sajópetri, Dubník in Pottenbrun 
je število grobov, v katerih je otrok edini pokojnik, 
enako številu tistih, v katerih je bil otrok pokopan 
z enim od odraslih pokojnikov, največkrat žensko 
(tab. 2). Na grobiščih Tiszavasvári in Palárikovo 
I so samo samostojni pokopi otrok, na grobiščih 
Maňa, Malé Kosihy in Mannersdorf pa ti pokopi 
prevladujejo. Le na grobišču Mátraszőlős je število 
grobov, ko je otrok pokopan z žensko ali kakšnim 
drugim odraslim, večje. To potrjuje ugotovitev, 
da je bila najpogostejša oblika dvojnega pokopa 
skupni pokop odrasle ženske in otroka (Berecki, 
Vaida 2017, 28–29). Po drugi strani se na grobišču 
v Zvonimirovem število otroških grobov giblje 
okoli 15 % celotnega doslej analiziranega vzorca, 
kar ustreza deležu med 10 in 25 % na preostalih 
grobiščih (tab. 2). Sicer pa se delež otroških grobov 
na grobiščih z večjim številom izkopanih grobov 
giblje od 6 do 13 % (Bujna 2019, 62). Podoben 
delež je tudi na grobiščih Ludas in Sajópetri na 
severovzhodu Madžarske, Maňa na jugozahodu 
Slovaške in Pottenbrun v Spodnji Avstriji. Delež 
otroških grobov je nekoliko višji na grobiščih Ti-
szavasvári, Dubník, Palárikovo I in Mannersdorf, 
nekoliko manjši pa na grobiščih Mátraszőlős in 
Malé Kosihy (tab. 2). Te številke kažejo, da so bili 
otroci v mlajši železni dobi prepoznavna družbena 
skupina, je pa materialne sledi, povezane z otroki, 
težko prepoznati (npr. Sofaer Dervenski 1994; 
1997; Kamp 2001; Lillehammer 2000; 2002; 2010; 
Baxter 2005; 2008; Wileman 2005; Pawleta 2013; 
Kamp 2015 itd.).
POGREBNI RITUAL
PRI OTROCIH
Vsi grobovi v Zvonimirovem, tudi otroški, so 
žgani. Kremirani ostanki otrok in prav tako od-
raslih pokojnikov so bili položeni na kupček na 
dno groba, včasih verjetno zaviti v tkanino (sl. 3; 
5; 6). Med sežganimi kostmi ni ostankov grmade, 
kar pomeni, da so bile kosti po pobiranju verjetno 
oprane. V kupčku so deli noše in nakit, keramične 
posode so postavljene zraven sežganih ostankov 
(Dizdar 2013, 32–33; 2016, 297–298; Dizdar, Ljuština 
2019, 50). Na grobišču sta bila doslej najdena le dva 
grobova, v katerih so bile sežgane kosti položene v 
keramično posodo, uporabljeno za žaro – otroški 
LT 84 (sl. 4) in ženski LT 86 (Dizdar 2016, 298). 
To kaže, da so bili otroci pri pogrebnem obredu 
obravnavani podobno kot odrasli (Dizdar 2013, 
40–42; 2020a).
Grobovi, v katere so bili položeni sežgani ostanki 
otrok, so bili enakih oblik in dimenzij kot grobovi 
odraslih (tab. 1). Podobna spoznanja veljajo tudi 
za druga grobišča v Karpatski kotlini. Pri skeletnih 
grobovih otrok so bile grobne jame manjših dimen-
zij, saj so vanje položili manjše truplo. Zanimivi 
so ostanki lesene skrinje oz. krste v grobu LT 30, v 
kateri je bil pokopan otrok. Ostanki lesene grobne 
arhitekture so bili odkriti pri še nekaterih grobovih 
odraslih pokojnikov (Dizdar 2016, 303–304, sl. 7; 
12). Polaganje kremiranih posmrtnih ostankov 
otroka v keramično posodo, ki so jo uporabili 
kot žaro, je v Karpatski kotlini ugotovljeno pri le 
redkih otroških grobovih oz. grobovih z odraslim 
in otrokom. Ti grobovi se v nekoliko večjem številu 
pojavljajo le v vzhodnem delu Karpatske kotline in 
na Moravskem. Za žare so bile uporabljene posode 
različnih oblik, največkrat nekoliko večje, ki se v 
grobovih pojavljajo tudi kot pridatek (Dizdar 2016, 
298–299; Repka 2020, 157). To kažejo tudi primeri 
z grobišč na severovzhodu Madžarske (Almássy 
1998, 61–62, t. 16: 4; Szabó, Tankó 2012, 28–30, 
sl. 33–38; 2018, 24–25, sl. 13; Bózsing 2018, 249 
itd.) in na Slovaškem (npr. Bujna 1995, 22–23, 
sl. 10, t. 5: 11). V grobu 1 gomile 9 na grobišču 
Lang-Schirka na Štajerskem so bili sežgani ostanki 
otroka, starega do največ šest let, položeni v žaro 
skupaj z majhno sekiro (Mauthner 2021, 24, sl. 3: 
1–2; 2023, 66–67, sl. 2–3).
Na grobišču Zvonimirovo se otroški grobovi 
od grobov odraslih razlikujejo po tem, da je v 
prvih manjša količina sežganih kosti (tab. 1). Po 
antropološki analizi so prisotni vsi deli telesa. 
Sežgane kosti otrok, pa tudi odraslih pokojnikov, 
so izrazito fragmentirane, temno sive, največkrat 
pa bele barve, kar kaže na visoko temperaturo gr-
made, ki je znašala od 400 do 650 °C (Šlaus, Novak 
2013, 518). Pri gorenju poškodovani bronasti in 
stekleni predmeti kažejo na še višjo temperaturo 
(Dizdar 2013, 34–36, sl. 8–9; 2016: 296–297, sl. 
1–2; 4). Teža sežganih posmrtnih ostankov otrok 
najpogosteje znaša 100 g, v nekaterih grobovih 
(npr. starejši otrok iz groba LT 12) lahko tudi več 
(tab. 1). Opaženo je, da so v večji teži ohranjeni 
sežgani ostanki nekoliko starejših otrok, vendar 
je treba upoštevati tudi verjetnost, da vsi sežgani 
ostanki niso bili pobrani iz ostankov grmade. Po-
dobni podatki o težah ostankov kremiranih otrok 
so bili ugotovljeni na grobiščih Ludas in Sajópetri 
102 Marko DIZDAR
(Tankó, Tankó 2012; Tankó 2012; Bózsing 2018) 
ter Hegyfalu (Balázs et al. 2015). Poleg ostankov 
otrok so v večini grobov v Zvonimirovem našli 
tudi sežgane kosti mladega prašiča ali kakšne 
druge živali, ki je ni bilo mogoče identificirati, a 
so verjetno ostanki prašiča (tab. 1). Teže sežganih 
živalskih kosti so različne, največkrat pa gre za 
dele glave in sprednjih ali zadnjih nog (Radović 
2013, 541–543; Dizdar 2016, 302–303). Podoben 
pogrebni ritual so odkrili na grobiščih Ludas 
(Tankó, Tankó 2012, 254–255) in Sajópetri (Szabó, 
Tankó 2018; Bózsing 2018).
Dvojni in večkratni grobovi
s pokopom otroka
Na grobišču v Zvonimirovem so z antropolo-
ško analizo doslej odkrili 12 grobov, v katerih so 
pokopani otroci, mlajši od 14 let. V treh grobovih 
so bili pokopani skupaj z odraslimi (tab. 1). V 
dveh grobovih so bili posmrtni ostanki otroka 
skupaj z odraslo žensko (grobova LT 5 in LT 
52), pri čemer so bili upepeljeni ostanki otroka 
najdeni na istem kupčku kot ostanki ženske, 
kar namiguje na sežiganje na skupni grmadi. 
Podoben pogrebni ritual je znan tudi z grobišča 
Ludas (Tankó, Tankó 2012, 252, App. 1). V dvoj-
nih grobovih odraslih na Zvonimirovem sta bila 
kupčka sežganih kosti vedno ločena, vsak s svojimi 
prepoznavnimi predmeti. To pomeni, da sta bila 
pokojnika sežgana na ločenih grmadah in nato 
skupaj pokopana v isti grob (Dizdar 2013, 38–41; 
2016, 304–306, sl. 13; 14). V grobu LT 12 s tremi 
pokojniki so bile sežgane kosti v vzhodnem delu 
groba, opazni pa sta bili dve večji koncentraciji – v 
severovzhodnem delu so bili ostanki moškega, v 
jugovzhodnem pa ostanki otrok (Majnarić-Pandžić 
2001; Dizdar 2013, 409–417, sl. 157, t. 20–30); 
2016, 305). Podobne ugotovitve pri dvojnih ali 
večkratnih pokopih so dokumentirane tudi na 
drugih grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini, za katera 
so znani rezultati bioarheoloških analiz. Dvojni 
pokopi v mlajši železni dobi v Karpatski kotlini 
predstavljajo izjemne kontekste (Berecki, Vaida 
2017; Berecki et al. 2022, 54). Poleg grobišča 
Zvonimirovo so samostojni pokopi otrok, starih 
do največ enega leta, evidentirani le na treh 
grobiščih (tab. 3), medtem ko so bili otroci te 
starosti pogosteje pokopani z enim od odraslih 
pokojnikov, največkrat z žensko (tab. 4).
Pokopi otrok z odraslo žensko imajo številne 
vzporednice na drugih latenskih grobiščih v Kar-
patski kotlini. Običajno gre za grobove, v katerih 
sta pokopana odrasla ženska in otrok v starosti 
do sedem let, le redko je otrok pokopan z odra-
slim moškim (tab. 4; 6). Pokop ženske in otroka 
v skupni grob je povezan z materinstvom, ki je 
imelo pomembno vlogo v življenju vsake ženske, 
čeprav je odnos med materjo in otrokom skozi vse 
življenje še vedno slabo poznan (Mays et al. 2017, 
5; Rebay-Salisbury 2018a; 2018b, 40, 46; Gowland 
2018). Skupni pokop ženske in novorojenčka je 
običajno povezan s težavami med porodom ali 
zdravjem matere po porodu, saj se domneva, da 
je med nosečnostjo in porodom lahko umrlo kar 
15 % žensk (Rebay-Salisbury 2017a, 66; 2017b, 
184). Pri razlagi dvojnih grobov odrasle ženske in 
otroka kot grobov matere in otroka pa je potrebna 
previdnost, saj ti grobovi ne kažejo nujno sorod-
stvenega razmerja pokojnikov, temveč so mogoče 
tudi druge družbene povezave.
Znani so tudi maloštevilni pokopi odraslega 
moškega in otroka, skupni pokop dveh otrok in 
trojni grobovi (tab. 4; 6; 8). Pokope odraslega 
moškega in otroka so odkrili na več grobiščih la-
tenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini (Ramsl 2010, 96; 
Berecki, Vaida 2017, 29). V večini primerov gre za 
pokope moških z orožjem. Redki so tudi grobovi 
z dvema otrokoma navadno različne starosti (tab. 
11) in tudi primeri trojnih ali večkratnih pokopov. 
Najpogosteje gre za pokop dveh odraslih in otroka. 
Najbližja primerjava je žgani grob 10a z grobišča 
Dobova iz LT C1, v katerem so bili najdeni po-
smrtni ostanki moškega in ženske, pod skledo pa 
ostanki otroka, starega približno dve leti. V grobu 
sta bila najdena orožje in toaletni pribor, ki naj bi 
pripadal moškemu, deli noše in nakit pa ženski 
(Guštin 1981, 225, 229, sl. 1: 2, t. 45–48; 1984, 
315, 317, sl. 4; 7–8; Hincak, Guštin 2011, 242).
Grobove z dvema ali več pokojniki na grobišču 
Zvonimirovo, pa tudi na drugih grobiščih v Kar-
patski kotlini, od katerih je bil vsaj eden otrok, je 
mogoče razložiti na več načinov (npr. Boulestin, 
Duday 2006, 160–164; Boulestin 2022; Boulestin, 
Courtaud 2022, 62–63). Mogoče je, da sta/so 
pokojnika/-i najverjetneje umrla/-i sočasno ali v 
kratkem časovnem razmiku, razlogi pa ostajajo 
neznani, zlasti če upoštevamo, da so ostanki upepe-
ljenih slabo in delno ohranjeni. Domnevamo lahko, 
da grobovi z dvema ali več pokojniki, vključno z 
otroki, odražajo različne družbene odnose med 
pokopanimi posamezniki – verjetno sorodstvene 
vezi, zaradi česar se je skupnost odločila za tako 
nenavadno posmrtno obravnavo (Rebay-Salisbury 
2018b, 37–46). Za grobove, v katerih sta pokopana 
103Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
dva otroka, lahko domnevamo, da gre za grobove 
bratov in sester, zlasti če so pokojniki različnih 
starosti (Rebay-Salisbury 2018b, 40).
Grobovi z naknadnim
pokopom otroka
Z grobišč latenske kulture je znano tudi manjše 
število grobov z naknadnim pokopom, pri katerih 
je eden od pokojnikov otrok – najpogosteje je bil 
prav ta pokopan naknadno (Ramsl 2010, 96). Ti 
grobovi kažejo na nekakšno socialno povezanost 
med pokojniki ali pa osebno in čustveno poveza-
nost med pokojniki in žalujočimi (Ramsl 2018, 
209; Wendling 2020, 64–65). Verjetno je šlo za 
družinsko povezanost, čeprav čas in vzrok smrti 
verjetno nista bila enaka (Rebay-Salisbury 2018b, 
38). Mogoče so tudi druge razlage, denimo, da je 
bil grob odprt zaradi manipulacije s predmeti ali 
zaradi verskih razlogov (Ramsl 2018, 209).
Otroški grobovi v naseljih
latenske kulture
Kot že omenjeno, razvoj latenske kulture zazna-
mujejo številni primeri pokopov otrok v naselbin-
skem kontekstu. Gre za pokope novorojenčkov do 
tretjega mesec ali otrok do enega leta starosti, v 
katerih so pridatki le izjema. Te pokope razlaga-
jo različno, nedvomno pa predstavljajo običajno 
pogrebno prakso za to starostno skupino (Endlich 
1998, 380; Wiltschke-Schrotta 1999; Krausse 1998; 
2002; Beilke-Voigt 2008; 2010; 2013; 2018; Ramsl 
2010; 2018; Trebsche 2012; 2013; 2020, 424; Kamp 
2015 et al.). Za to priča med drugim majhno število 
grobov otrok te starostne skupine v Zvonimirovem 
in tudi na drugih grobiščih (tab. 3–4).
Na območju Skordiskov je primer otroškega 
pokopa znan iz naselja na Gomolavi. Na dnu po-
znolatenske jame je bil pokopan otrok, star 3–4 
leta, skupaj z moškim, starim 25–35 let, in žensko, 
staro 44–48 let (Jovanović, Jovanović 1988, 53–58, 
173–177, pr. 7, sl. 14–17, t. 43: 1–5; 44: 1–5; 45: 
1–4). Številni primeri otroških grobov znotraj naselij 
so znani z območja t. i dakijsko-getske kulture v 
vzhodnem delu Karpatske kotline in spodnjega 
Podonavja. Datirani so v celotno mlajšo železno 
dobo od 4. st. pr. n. št. do rimskega osvajanja na 
začetku 2. st. pr. n. št. (Sîrbu 1993, 31–36; 1997, 
196–197, sl. 1; 2008, 72–77, sl. 5.1; Sîrbu et al. 
2006, 192–193, sl. 9–11 itd.).
Pridobljena spoznanja o pokopih novorojenih 
otrok v naselbinah latenske kulture odpirajo tudi 
vprašanje, zakaj so bili nekateri otroci pokopani 
v naselju, drugi pa na grobišču. Ali so bili vsi 
otroci pokopani? Kaj se je zgodilo s fetusi in no-
vorojenčki? Poznavanje pokopa otrok v naseljih 
kaže, da je bil pogrebni obred v času latenske 
kulture glede na število odkritih grobov otrok 
na grobiščih, predvsem tistih najmlajše starosti, 
selektiven (tab. 3–4). Očitno sta v otroštvu ob-
stajali vsaj dve stopnji. Najmlajši otroci (do enega 
leta) so bili premladi za pokopavanje na grobišču 
skupnosti, ki so ji pripadali. Ko so dopolnili eno 
leto, so jih začeli pokopavati skupaj z odraslimi 
na grobišču (Ramsl 2010, 88; Zweifel 2015, 125). 
Morda novorojenčke, ki so umrli med porodom ali 
kmalu po njem, niti niso šteli za člane skupnosti 
(Mays 2000; 2014, 101). Morda je bil preminuli 
novorojenček pomemben le za družino in je s 
pokopom ob hiši še naprej živel z njo (Murphy, Le 
Roy 2017). Če je novorojenček preživel trenutke 
po rojstvu in ga je skupnost sprejela, je bil zaradi 
tega morda lahko pokopan na grobišču. O tem bi 
lahko pričali grobovi otrok, mlajših od enega leta, 
ki so bili pokopani z odraslim.
STAROSTNE SKUPINE OTROK
Iz analize otroških grobov na grobišču v Zvo-
nimirovem izhaja, da so zastopane vse starostne 
skupine (tab. 1). Enako je tudi na drugih grobiščih 
latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini, za katera so 
na voljo rezultati antropoloških analiz (tab. 2–8). 
Dodatne podatke bi lahko dobili na grobiščih, kjer 
starostne skupine otrok niso natančneje določene 
(tab. 9; 10). Otroci so na Zvonimirovem razdeljeni 
v tri starostne skupine: otroci, stari do enega leta, 
otroci, stari od enega leta do sedem let, in otroci, 
stari od osem do 14 let. Starostni skupini – infans 
I (0–7 let) in II (8–14 let) – sta prepoznani v an-
tropoloških analizah grobišč Ludas (Tankó 2012, 
212) in Sajópetri (Bózsing 2018, 248). Z nekaterimi 
manjšimi odstopanji se podobna razdelitev po 
starosti uporablja tudi pri antropoloških analizah v 
srednji Evropi. Ta razdelitev omogoča preučevanje 
povezanosti določene starostne skupine s pogrebno 
prakso in materialno zapuščino (Rebay-Salisbury, 
Pany-Kucera 2020, 3) oziroma prepoznavanje 
bioloških in kulturnih lastnosti za vsako obdobje 
otrokovega življenja (Thompson et al. 2014, 2).
Na grobišču v Zvonimirovem in tudi na drugih 
grobiščih latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini so 
104 Marko DIZDAR
bili kot posebna skupina opredeljeni grobovi z 
otroki, starimi do enega leta. V Zvonimirovem 
sta dva groba, v katerih so bili otroci te starosti 
pokopani samostojno, in še dva groba, v katerih 
so bili pokopani z odraslim (tab. 1). Tudi v Kar-
patski kotlini so samostojni pokopi otrok, mlaj-
ših od enega leta, na grobiščih latenske kulture 
redki (tab. 3). Ti grobovi kažejo, da so bili tudi 
najmlajši otroci pokopani s spoštovanjem in so 
zato bili verjetno sprejeti kot člani skupnosti. 
Morda je na to vplivala pripadnost družini, ki 
je v skupnosti po nečem izstopala, ali pa je šlo 
za kakšne druge nam neznane kulturne razloge. 
Po drugi strani so v večjem številu zastopani 
pokopi otrok te starosti z odraslim, najpogosteje 
žensko (tab. 4). Analiza kaže, da je skupno število 
grobov otrok, mlajših od enega leta, na grobiščih 
majhno, zlasti ob upoštevanju njihove umrljivosti. 
To lahko nakazuje, da je odsotnost te starostne 
skupine na grobiščih selektivna, o čemer pričajo 
številni pokopi otrok te starosti v naseljih (Ramsl 
2010, 88; Beilke-Voigt 2018, 82–83; Trebsche 
2020, 424). Domneva se, da je bila pričakovana 
umrljivost otrok kot najranljivejše skupine v praz-
godovini okoli 50 %, umrljivost novorojenčkov 
oziroma otrok v prvem letu življenja pa okoli 
20–30 %. Tveganje za smrt otroka je bilo največje 
na začetku življenja, zaradi različnih bolezni, 
okužb, prehrane itd., najbolj kritični trenutki pa 
so bili nosečnost, porod in prvih sedem dni po 
rojstvu (npr. Goodman, Armelagos 1989; Scott 
1999; Chamberlain 2006; Lewis 2007; 2011; 2016; 
Redfern 2007; Bacvarov 2008; Fahlander 2011; 
Finlay 2013; Gilmore, Halcrow 2014; Kamp 2015; 
Murphy, Le Roy 2017; Halcrow et al. 2017 itd). 
Vzroke najdemo tako v oslabljeni imunosti kot 
tudi v stresnih spremembah, ki so jim bili otroci 
izpostavljeni (Rebay-Salisbury 2017a, 67; 2017b, 
175; 2018a, 94, 99; Wendling 2020, 66; Avery et 
al. 2022, 4).
V Zvonimirovem (tab. 1) in tudi na grobiščih 
v Karpatski kotlini je precej večje število grobov 
otrok naslednje starostne skupine (1–7 let), kar je 
mogoče pojasniti z integracijo teh otrok v skupnost. 
Opazno je, da je v tej starostni skupini število 
grobov, v katerih je otrok edini pokojnik (tab. 5), 
večje v primerjavi z grobovi, v katerih so otroci te 
starosti pokopani z enim od odraslih, največkrat 
žensko (tab. 6). Razlike med posameznimi grobišči 
so opazne tudi pri številu samostojnih pokopov 
otrok v primerjavi s pokopi z odraslimi (tab. 2). 
Tudi pri analizi grobov otrok, starih 8–14 let, so 
opazne razlike. Na grobišču v Zvonimirovem so 
štirje takšni grobovi (tab. 1), pri čemer je eden 
od pokojnikov v trojnem grobu LT 12 verjetno 
deklica, stara 10–14 let. Grobovi otrok te starostne 
skupine so znani v velikem številu z drugih grobišč 
v Karpatski kotlini (tab. 2). Otroci te starosti so 
bili največkrat edini pokojnik v grobu (tab. 7). V 
bistveno manjšem številu v primerjavi s prejšnjo 
starostno skupino so bili ugotovljeni grobovi, v 
katerih so bili otroci, stari 8–14 let, pokopani z 
enim od odraslih, običajno znova z žensko (tab. 8).
Rezultati analize kažejo, da so otroci po visoki 
umrljivosti do prvega leta starosti tudi pozneje 
predstavljali ranljivo skupino, dovzetno za različne 
bolezni, ki so bile vzrok za višjo umrljivost. Ene-
ga od razlogov gre verjetno iskati v prenehanju 
dojenja in navajanju na normalno prehrano, kar 
se je zgodilo pri starosti med letom in pol ter 
četrtim letom (Knipper et al. 2017; Mays et al. 
2017, 6–8). To je verjetno vplivalo tudi na njihovo 
imunost (Ulrich-Bochsler, Rüttimann 2014, 73; 
Halcrow, Ward 2018).
Grobovi mladostnikov
na grobiščih latenske kulture
Poleg otroških grobov so v Zvonimirovem 
zanimivi tudi grobovi mladostnikov, umrlih med 
15. in 20. letom starosti. Ti so po dosedanjih 
ugotovitvah že veljali za polnoletne člane sku-
pnosti (Dizdar 2013, 40–41; 2020a, 133). Njihova 
socialna starost se kaže v razlikah v primerjavi 
s pokojniki mlajših let. Doslej je bil odkrit le en 
tak grob (tab. 1) – LT 125, v njem je bil pokopan 
moški, star 14–18 let (sl. 7). V grobu so našli 
orožje (meč, sulica, ščit), dele noše in keramične 
posode. Grobni sestav tega pokojnika se torej 
precej razlikuje od otroških grobov in po najdbah 
ustreza grobovom odraslih moških z grobišča.
Grobovi te starostne skupine (iuvenilis, 15–18/20 
let) so evidentirani na vseh grobiščih v Karpatski 
kotlini, v primerjavi z otroškimi grobovi jih je 
občutno manj (tab. 2). Omeniti velja tudi, da so 
dvojni grobovi, tj. grobovi odraslega in mladostni-
ka ali dveh mladostnikov, redki. Morda je razlog 
v tem, da so bili mladostniki najbolj zdrav del 
skupnosti, zaradi česar so na grobiščih zastopani 
v manjšem številu (Avery et al. 2022, 3–4).
Podobno kot pri grobu LT 125 lahko opazimo, da 
imajo moški te starostne skupine v grobu pogosto 
priloženo orožje (tab. 12). Tako je bil v grobu 16 
na grobišču v Dobovi verjetno pokopan moški, 
mlajši od 20 let, s sulico, suličnim kopitom, dvema 
105Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
fibulama in keramičnimi posodami (Guštin 1984, 
330; Hincak, Guštin 2011, 249). Moški te starostne 
skupine na grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini so pogosto 
opremljeni z mečem v nožnici, sulico in ščitom. 
Ti se v taki kombinaciji ne pojavljajo v otroških 
grobovih, ki so le izjemoma imeli v grobu priloženo 
sulico. Poleg tega so v grobovih številni deli noše in 
keramično posodje, izjemoma se pojavljajo še drugi 
predmeti. Grobovi moških te starosti brez najdb 
so redki. Podobno kot v grobovih mladostnikov 
je tudi pri ženskah te starostne skupine oziroma 
dekletih največkrat več delov noše in nakita kot 
pri otroških grobovih (tab. 12). To bi jih tudi že 
opredeljevalo kot polnoletne članice skupnosti, pri 
čemer so bile nekatere bogato opremljene, le redko 
so bile brez pridatkov (npr. Gardelková-Vrtelová, 
Benadík 2021, 215, t. 18: 2).
Rezultati analize grobnih sestojev mladostni-
kov na grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini, predvsem 
v primerjavi s tistimi, ugotovljenimi v otroških 
grobovih, odpirajo zanimivo vprašanje o odnosu 
in povezavi med biološko in socialno starostjo 
pokojnikov (Halcrow, Tayles 2008; 2011). Ali 
je mogoče pokojnike na grobišču Zvonimirovo, 
starejše od 14 do 15 let, glede na njihov položaj 
v skupnosti obravnavati kot odrasle osebe, ki bi 
lahko sklenile zakonsko zvezo (Dizdar 2013, 40–41; 
2020a, 133)? To bi lahko povezali s puberteto, v 
katero deklice običajno vstopijo med 10. in 13. 
letom, dečki pa med 12. in 16. letom (Rebay-Sa-
lisbury, Pany-Kucera 2020, 3), ali s plodnostjo, 
ki se pri deklicah pojavi okoli 14. leta (Hofmann 
2014, 31–36; Rebay-Salisbury 2017a, 63; 2017b, 
184). Prehod iz otroštva v adolescenco, prepo-
znan z biološkimi in socialnimi spremembami, 
je morda pomenil najpomembnejšo obdobje v 
življenju, s katerim se je začela tudi nova družbena 
vloga posameznika tako v družini kot skupnosti 
(npr. Sofaer Dervenski 1994; 2000; Sofaer 2004; 
2011; Gowland 2006; Thompson et al. 2014 itd.). 
To je prineslo ne le določene privilegije, temveč 
tudi obveznosti (Appleby 2011, 233; Avery et 
al. 2022). Sprememba družbene starosti je bila 
verjetno poudarjena z nekaterimi rituali ‒ rites 
of pasage ‒ , ki spremljajo spremembe v življenju 
vsakega posameznika (Gilchirst 2004; Gowland 
2006; Garwood 2007; 2011; Wendling 2013, 
11–12; Grove, Lancy 2015; 2018; Nizzo 2018), 
saj je v grobnih sestojih jasno vidna razlika med 
grobovi otrok in mladostnikov, medtem ko med 
grobovi otrok različnih starosti ni večjih razlik. 
Danes neznani rituali prehoda so tako povezali 
dve različni biološki in družbeni starosti kot 
družbeni in kulturni konstrukt (Gowland 2006; 
Baxter 2008, 163; Thompson et al. 2014, 2; Grove, 
Lancy 2015; 2018; Murphy, Le Roy 2017, 5; Ramsl 
2018, 201, 209; Ramsl 2020, 159).
ZDRAVJE OTROK
Čeprav so na grobišču Zvonimirovo kremirani 
otroški ostanki slabo ohranjeni, je antropološka 
analiza na nekaterih razkrila patološke spremembe, 
ki govorijo o biološkem profilu otrok (Halcrow, 
Ward 2018). Pri starejšem otroku iz groba LT 12 je 
bila v desni orbiti opažena rahlo zaraščena cribra 
orbitalia (Šlaus, Novak 2013, 517). Otrok, pokopan 
v grobu LT 30, je imel močan aktivni periostitis 
na medialnih diafizah dolgih kosti (najverjetneje 
stegnenic). Opazili so tudi hipoplazijo zobne skle-
nine na maksilarnem podočniku. Te anomalije se 
povezuje s hudim pomanjkanjem vitaminov, neo-
natalno zlatenico, anemijo, nalezljivimi boleznimi 
ali kronično podhranjenostjo (Šlaus, Novak 2013, 
519). Drugi otrok iz groba LT 52 je imel hud aktivni 
periostitis na distalni tretjini femoralne diafize.
Tudi na drugih grobiščih latenske kulture v 
Karpatski kotlini je bilo doslej opaženih malo 
patoloških sprememb, saj gre pogosto za slabo 
ohranjene skeletne ostanke ali pa je ohranjena 
količina drobnih sežganih kosti manjša kot pri 
odraslih pokojnikih (Kraus 2006, 8). Umrljivost 
otrok je bila v številnih prazgodovinskih skupnostih 
visoka (Kamp 2015, 177). Patološke spremembe 
(najpogosteje cribra orbitalia in porotic hypero-
stosis) so bile prepoznane kot dokaz bolezni in 
stresa zaradi različnih vzrokov, kot so neustrezna 
prehrana, slaba higiena in okužbe, medtem ko je 
vzrok smrti le redko mogoče ugotoviti (Vargová, 
Horáčková 2010; Kamp 2015, 177–179; Mays et 
al. 2017, 8–13). Antropološke analize posmrtnih 
ostankov otrok kažejo, da so bili ti manj bolni 
kot odrasli (Lewis 2011), vendar so bili prav tako 
izpostavljeni nalezljivim boleznim, ki so eden po-
gostejših vzrokov smrti pri otrocih, mlajših od pet 
let. Te je z antropološko analizo težko odkriti, saj 
ne puščajo vedno sledi (Ulrich-Bochsler, Rüttimann 
2014, 73). Prav tako posmrtni ostanki otrok ne 
kažejo vedno znakov fizičnega stresa, saj so otroci 
lahko opravljali določena gospodinjska opravila, 
ki ne puščajo fizičnih sledi (Kamp 2015, 173–174, 
180–181). Na nekaterih posmrtnih ostankih otrok 
so bile vidne zaceljene travme (npr. Lewis 2014; 
Halcrow, Robbins Schug 2023), ki kažejo na skrb 
in nego otrok (npr. Halcrow et al. 2020).
106 Marko DIZDAR
MOBILNOST OTROK
Analize posameznih delov noše in nakita iz 
grobov odraslih žensk v Zvonimirovem razkrivajo, 
da bi nekateri predmeti lahko prispeli s kulturnim 
prenosom, čeprav ni mogoče izključiti možnosti, 
da so prispeli kot del noše z ženskami iz sose-
dnjih ali daljnih krajev (Dizdar 2020c, 211–212). 
Eden izmed takšnih »tujkov« iz otroških grobov 
je bronasta fibula z osmimi zankami na loku iz 
groba LT 22, s pokopom otroka, starega 12–15 
let (Dizdar 2020a, 138–139). Nekatere odgovore 
lahko najdemo tudi na drugih območjih širjenja 
latenske kulture, kjer so poskušali rekonstruirati 
mobilnost ljudi. Tako so zanimive ugotovitve z 
zgodnjelatenskega grobišča v Dubníku, kjer so 
izvedli analizo izotopov stroncija 87Sr/86Sr na 
skeletnih ostankih iz osmih grobov (Bujna et al. 
2020). Rezultati analiz stabilnih izotopov stroncija 
železnodobnih pokojnikov v srednji Evropi kažejo 
na mobilnost otrok, starejših od šest let, ki se je 
odvijala zaradi različnih razlogov, predvsem zaradi 
krepitve socialnih odnosov med različnimi sku-
pnostmi (Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2015, 19–21). Na 
nekaterih grobiščih iz starejše železne dobe, npr. iz 
zgodnjega latena (Scheeres et al. 2013; Hauschild 
et al. 2013; Sorrentino et al. 2018), je bilo ugoto-
vljeno, da so bili v otroštvu moški pogosteje bolj 
mobilni kot ženske (Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2015, 
15–18, tab. 1). Morda se razlaga skriva v ideji, po 
kateri so lahko fantje določena znanja in spretnosti 
pridobili zunaj svoje družine in skupnosti, kar 
je ustvarilo nove družbene povezave (Karl 2005; 
2010; Parkes 2006).
SESTOJI OTROŠKIH GROBOV
– ARHEOLOŠKE NAJDBE
Skupnost, ki je svoje pokojnike pokopavala v 
Zvonimirovem, je imela z drugimi skupnostmi 
iz mlajše železne dobe v Karpatski kotlini veliko 
skupnih kulturnih in obrednih norm. Na podlagi 
analize materialne dediščine so prepoznane nekatere 
kulturne posebnosti in tudi predmeti, ki kažejo 
na povezave s sosednjimi skupnostmi ali morda 
celo na mobilnost med njimi (Dizdar 2013; 2020a; 
Dizdar, Ljuština 2019). Število in vrsta najdb v 
otroških grobovih v Zvonimirovem sta različna. 
V večini grobov, v katerih so bili pokopani samo 
otroci, je manj najdb kot v grobovih odraslih (tab. 
1), lahko pa opazimo, da so v njih pogosto podobni 
predmeti, kot jih najdemo v grobovih odraslih. 
Podobno je na grobiščih, kot so Dobova, Brežice 
in Nova tabla (Guštin 1984; Guštin et al. 2017), 
ter tudi na drugih grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini. 
Po drugi strani pa je v Zvonimirovem, ko gre za 
grobove, v katerih je bil otrok pokopan z enim od 
odraslih pokojnikov, težko zanesljivo ugotoviti, kateri 
predmeti so pripadali otroku. Tovrstna analiza je 
veliko enostavnejša pri dvojnih skeletnih grobo-
vih z drugih grobišč latenske kulture v Karpatski 
kotlini. Na podlagi otroških skeletnih grobov je 
mogoč tudi študij funkcionalne lege predmetov. 
Dosedanje analize grobov odraslih omogočajo 
prepoznavanje spolno značilnih predmetov, ki se 
pojavljajo tudi v otroških grobovih, ter morebitno 
identifikacijo za starost značilnih predmetov, ki se 
pojavljajo le v otroških grobovih.
V otroške grobove v Zvonimirovem so najpo-
gosteje polagali dele noše in nakitne predmete 
(fibule, zapestnice, steklene jagode itd.). Predmeti 
vsakdanje rabe (npr. noži, vretenca, šivanke) so 
priloženi redko, orožje se pojavlja le izjemoma (tab. 
1). K popotnici v onstranstvo sodijo keramične 
posode in pridana hrana, od katere so ohranjene 
živalske kosti, največkrat prašičje. Doslej še niso 
bili odkriti otroški grobovi brez pridatkov, ki so 
v manjšem številu znani z drugih grobišč laten-
ske kulture (Ramsl 2010, 95). Na noši in nakitu 
iz otroških grobov, pa tudi iz grobov odraslih, so 
pogosto vidni sledovi sežiganja, kar pomeni, da so 
bili otroci sežgani na grmadi skupaj z njimi, torej 
gre za dele noše in nakita, ki so ju nosili. Najdeni 
pa so bili tudi predmeti, ki niso bili sežgani in so 
bili verjetno položeni v grob ob pokopu (Dizdar 
2013, 34–37; 2016, 296–297). Razlagati jih je mo-
goče na različne načine, morda kot darila žalujočih 
družinskih članov in sorodnikov (Cannon, Cook 
2015). Malo je namreč verjetno, da je otrok z 
lastnimi dejanji dosegel določen socialni položaj 
v skupnosti, ki se izraža v količini in pestrosti 
grobnih pridatkov, posebej ob upoštevanju bogato 
opremljenih grobov. Zato je bil izbor predmetov, 
položenih v otroški grob, verjetno odraz statusa 
družine in sorodnikov (Rissanen, Alder 2011, 156; 
Zweifel 2015, 124).
Za bogatejše opremljena otroška groba v Zvo-
nimirovem (tab. 1) lahko po vrsti in številu najdb 
štejemo grobova LT 34 (sl. 3) in LT 84 (sl. 4). V to 
skupino bi lahko uvrstili še pokop otroka, starega 
10–14 let, iz trojnega groba LT 12 (Dizdar 2013, 
409–415, t. 25: 1–3; 26: 3–5; 27). Če te najdbe pri-
merjamo s tistimi iz grobov odraslih pokojnikov v 
Zvonimirovem, lahko sklepamo, da je bil v grobu 
LT 34 pokopan deček, v grobovih LT 12 in LT 
107Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
84 pa deklici. Bogato opremljeni otroški grobovi 
različnih starosti (tab. 3–8) so znani tudi z drugih 
grobišč latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini (Ramsl 
2010, 94–96). V njih je poleg keramičnih posod 
najpogosteje veliko delov noše in nakita, le redko 
pa predmeti vsakdanje rabe in orožja. Vprašanje je, 
koliko najdbe iz otroških grobov dejansko pričajo o 
njihovem družbenem statusu (Rissanen et al. 2013, 
135–136), saj je vsak otroški grob unikaten, vrsta, 
število in sestava grobnih najdb pa so individualni 
oz. osebni (Pichler et al. 2017, 14).
Le izjemoma so bili bogato opremljeni otroci do 
enega leta starosti (npr. Szabó, Tankó 2012, 65–67, 
sl. 102–104, t. 38; 39: 1–4; Gardelková-Vrtelová, 
Benadík 2021, 212–213, t. 17: 2; 68B: 1–3; 59: 1–26; 
Ramsl 2011, 34–36, 198, sl. 18; 19, 2010, 89, sl. 14; 
15 itd.). Analiza otroških grobov kaže, da se v njih 
poleg keramičnih posod najpogosteje pojavljajo 
spolno značilni predmeti noše in nakita, kakršne 
najdemo v grobovih odraslih žensk (Dizdar 2013, 
211–213). Ali to pomeni, da gre za grobove deklet? 
Kaj pa fantje in kako jih prepoznati po materialni 
zapuščini? Ali to pomeni, da na grobišču v Zvo-
nimirovem, pa tudi na drugih grobiščih latenske 
kulture v Karpatski kotlini, obstajajo določeni 
kulturno pogojeni grobni sestoji, glede na spol 
otroka? Čeprav je bilo poudarjeno, da po najdbah 
ni mogoče določiti spola otrok do določene starosti 
(Burmeister, Müller-Scheeßel 2005).
Otroški grobovi z orožjem
Na grobove dečkov morda kaže nekaj otroških 
grobov z orožjem, najpogosteje z eno sulico, na 
primer v grobu LT 34. Kratke železne sulice so bile 
najdene še v nekaterih drugih otroških grobovih, 
od katerih so Zvonimirovemu najbližje grobišča 
v Dobovi (Guštin 1984, 315, 317, 330, sl. 4; 8; 17; 
Mauthner 2023, 70, sl. 5: 2,3), Slatini (Pirkmajer 
1991, 29, sl. 48, t. 14: 95–97; Mauthner 2023, 71, 
sl. 6: 1,2) in na Novi tabli (Guštin et al. 2017, 160, 
676–677; Mauthner 2023, 71). V grobu 1 gomile 
9 na grobišču Lang-Schirka je bila z upepeljenimi 
ostanki otroka, starega do največ šest let, v loncu, 
ki je služil kot žara, najdena sekira (Mauthner 
2021, 24, sl. 3: 1; 2023, 67, sl. 3: 2). Maloštevilne 
so primerjave z grobišč v Karpatski kotlini (npr. 
Szabó, Tankó 2012, 45, sl. 65–66, t. 23: 5; 2018, 
56–58, t. 18: 5–6; Bujna 1989, 281–283, sl. 40, t. 
35: 1–15; 52: 4). Največkrat gre za krajše in lažje 
sulice (Rustoiu, Berecki 2015a, 131–132; Rustoiu 
2016a, 55; Mauthner 2023, 72–75). Te bi se lahko 
uporabljale za vajo in pripravo otroka na prihodnjo 
vlogo, glede na to, da otroštvo velja za čas učenja za 
odraslost (Baxter 2008, 161, 167; Gaskins, Paradise 
2010; Sofaer 2015, 82–83; Sánchez Romero 2017, 
23–30; Langley, Litster 2018; Röder 2022). Dečki 
so se lahko med lovom učili rokovati z orožjem 
manjših dimenzij, kar pa ni vplivalo na spretnost, 
ko so odrasli (Kamp, Whittaker 2020, 15–21). 
Sulico bi lahko položili v otroški grob tudi kot 
darilo (Glansdorp 2018, 52). Lahko domnevamo, 
da je bil v grobu LT 34 pokopan deček, ki bi, če bi 
živel, postal bojevnik s polno oborožitvijo. Ker so 
v grobu našli še druge predmete, bi lahko šlo za 
pokop člana ugledne družine. Morda gre pri otro-
ških grobovih brez spolno značilnih predmetov za 
grobove dečkov (Ramsl 2020, 159), ki bi si orožje 
priskrbeli šele v določeni starosti.
Otroški grobovi z deli noše
V otroških grobovih v Zvonimirovem je precej 
več spolno značilnih predmetov, ki so običajni za 
grobove odraslih žensk. To so deli noše, nakit in 
vretenca, ki v kombinacijah kažejo individualnost. 
Podobno je bilo opaženo tudi na drugih latenskih 
grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini (tab. 3–8). Med deli 
noše, najdenimi v otroških grobovih v Zvonimiro-
vem, so najpogostejši železne in bronaste fibule, v 
manjšem številu se pojavljajo pasovi ali njihovi deli 
(tab. 1). Polaganje železnih pasov oziroma njihovih 
delov v otroške grobove je na drugih grobiščih v 
Karpatski kotlini redek pojav, druge najdbe pa ka-
žejo, da gre za dekliške grobove (tab. 3–8). V bogato 
opremljenih grobovih so nekateri otroci opremljeni 
kot odrasle ženske, pas pa je bil v skeletnih grobovih 
že na funkcionalnem mestu. V žganih grobovih so 
včasih le deli pasu, zato se postavlja vprašanje, ali 
je otrok že imel pas, ki se je ob žganju poškodoval, 
ali pa je bil del pasu le simbolično položen v grob. 
Deli noše iz otroških grobov v Zvonimirovem so 
bronaste in železne fibule (tab. 1), kar se ujema z 
najdbami z drugih grobišč v Karpatski kotlini (tab. 
3–8). Poseben pojav na zvonimirovskem grobišču 
je polaganje pasov ali njihovih delov ali steklenih 
zapestnic, ki jih po dimenzijah sodeč otroci niso 
mogli nositi, v grobove novorojenčkov in majhnih 
otrok. Polaganje predmetov, ki bi pripadali odra-
slim ženskam, in predmetov z znaki nošenja je bilo 
dokumentirano v otroških grobovih na grobiščih 
mlajše železne dobe (Kraus 2002, 110; Gustavs 2004; 
Lettman 2018). Morda ti predmeti kažejo, kaj naj 
bi nosili kot odrasli.
108 Marko DIZDAR
Otroški grobovi z nakitom
Med nakitom so bili sežgani odlomki steklenih 
zapestnic (tab. 1), kakršne pogosto najdemo v 
grobovih odraslih žensk (Dizdar 2013, 252–255; 
Dizdar, Ljuština 2019, 57). V grobu LT 34 je bila 
še železna zapestnica, kakršne so znane iz moških 
grobov (Dizdar 2013, 203–207), kar bi skupaj s 
sulico kazalo na pokop dečka. V večini primerov 
po sežganih delih steklenih zapestnic ni mogoče 
določiti njihovih dimenzij in tako ugotoviti, ali 
so bile narejene za otroke. Otroški grobovi v 
Zvonimirovem izstopajo po najdbah steklenih 
jagod, ki se le redko pojavljajo v grobovih odra-
slih žensk (tab. 1) (Dizdar 2013, 262–263, sl. 91). 
Ker so bile steklene zapestnice in jagode sežgane 
na grmadi, so jih otroci verjetno nosili, morda 
pa so jih naložili na grmado. Dokaze o načinu 
nošenja najdemo v skeletnih grobovih, po katerih 
so se jagode nosile okoli vratu, najdene pa so tudi 
poleg roke. Steklene jagode so prav tako pogoste 
v otroških srednjelatenskih grobovih v Karpatski 
kotlini, vendar v manjšem številu kot prej (tab. 3–8) 
(Zepezauer 1993, 112), redko pa v kombinaciji z 
bronastim obeskom.
Otroški grobovi z vretenci
Drug spolno značilen predmet v grobu LT 108 
so tri keramična vretenca (tab. 1), ki se pojavljajo 
z majhnim železnim nožem in morda železno 
šivanko. Vretenca najdemo v grobovih odraslih 
žensk (Dizdar 2013, 303; Dizdar, Ljuština 2019, 
63–64; Dizdar 2020b) in tudi na drugih grobiščih 
v Karpatski kotlini (Dizdar 2020b). Redkejša so v 
otroških grobovih (tab. 3–8). Verjetno so bila darilo 
žalujočih družinskih članov, ki so s prilaganjem 
vretenca želeli poudariti, da je otrok izgubil možnost 
postati odrasla ženska, vešča predenja (Dizdar, 
Ljuština 2019, 68; Dizdar 2020b). Malo starejši 
otroci z vretenci, priloženimi v grob, so morda že 
znali presti ali pa vretenca kažejo na čas učenja in 
priprave na odraslost, saj je znano, da so se otroci 
začeli učiti različnih veščin med drugim in petim 
letom starosti (Sofaer Dervenski 2000; Kamp 2001, 
13; Baxter 2008, 167–169; Gaskins, Paradise 2010, 
91; Kamp 2015, 173–174). Na prilaganje vretenc 
v otroške grobove se na simbolni ravni gleda kot 
na določanje njihove prihodnje vloge v skupnosti, 
torej da je zgodaj umrli otrok prikazan v svoji 
prihodnji vlogi. Post mortem je prevzel položaj, 
ki mu je bil namenjen, če bi dočakal odraslost.
Otroški grobovi s keramičnimi posodami
Med najpogostejšimi najdbami v otroških gro-
bovih v Zvonimirovem, tako kot na drugih gro-
biščih latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini, so 
keramične posode. K popotnici v onstranstvo 
sodijo tudi deli prašičev, odkriti v grobovih LT 
30 in LT 34, podobni so najdeni v grobovih odra-
slih pokojnikov (Radović 2013). Število posod se 
giblje od ena do tri (tab. 1). Gre za lonce, sklede 
in kantare, najpogostejša najdba je lonec. To so 
posode, ki jih glede na obliko, velikost ter način 
izdelave in okraševanja najdemo tudi v grobovih 
odraslih (Dizdar 2013, 268–273). Majhne posode 
so bile odkrite le v nekaterih otroških grobovih. 
Da majhne posode niso značilne samo za otroške 
grobove, pričajo najdbe iz groba LT 11, v katerem 
so bile tudi majhne posode – skodelica in čaša 
(Dizdar 2013, 409, t. 19: 1–2), predvsem pa mi-
niaturna čaša iz bogatega bojevniškega groba LT 
45 (Dizdar et al. 2014, 84, sl. 10: 3). Te posode so 
lahko uporabljali za strežbo, lahko pa so služile 
celo medicinskemu ali farmacevtskemu namenu. 
Od omenjenih posod po svojih dimenzijah izstopa 
miniaturen lonček iz groba LT 34, ki po obliki 
ustreza veliko večjim loncem, najdenim v grobovih 
odraslih. V tem grobu je bila tudi skodela, manjša 
od tistih v grobovih odraslih.
Na grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini je število 
keramičnih posod v otroških grobovih različno. Te 
so včasih tudi edine najdbe v grobu. Najpogosteje 
so v grobu od ena do tri posode, in sicer kombi-
nacija lonca in sklede, poznamo pa tudi grobove s 
petimi do sedmimi posodami, ne glede na starost 
otroka (tab. 3–8). Včasih so v otroške grobove 
priložene miniaturne posode, ki so lahko ročno 
izdelane (npr. Szabó, Tankó 2018, 129, t. 60: 1,2). 
Majhne posode se v grobovih pogosto pojavljajo 
v kombinaciji s posodami normalnih dimenzij, le 
zelo redko pa so bile v otroški grob položene le 
majhne posode brez vsaj ene večje (npr. grob 475 z 
grobišča Malé Kosihy: Bujna 1995, 96, sl. 87, t. 40B: 
1–4). Prilaganje majhnih posod je ugotovljeno pri 
številnih otroških grobovih. Najbližja primerjava 
sta skledici in čaša v otroškem grobu 20 v Dobovi 
skupaj z dvema večjima loncema (Mauthner 2023, 
70, sl. 5: 4–6) ali lonček in skleda v otroškem 
grobu 21, v katerem sta bili edini najdbi (Guštin 
1984, 315, 317, 330, sl. 4; 8; 17). V grobu 114 
na Novi tabli je bila manjša skleda (Guštin et al. 
2017, 159, 668–669). Kot kažejo številni primeri, 
najdemo v otroških grobovih latenske kulture 
keramične posode miniaturnih dimenzij (Ramsl 
109Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
2010, 93, sl. 14), največkrat izdelane na lončarskem 
kolesu, pa tudi ročno izdelane, ki so jih morda 
izdelali otroci sami (Repka 2017, 215–216, 218). 
Po oblikah se ne razlikujejo od posod, najdenih 
v grobovih odraslih, razlikujejo se po dimenzijah. 
Rezultati analize kažejo, da so majhne posode 
najpogosteje v ženskih grobovih, najdemo pa jih 
tudi v otroških (Repka 2017, 207–218; 2020, 61, 
sl. 66; 79). Domneva se, da so miniaturne posode 
uporabljali otroci, poleg tega so lahko vsebovale 
pomembne tekočine, morda so jih uporabljali v 
obrednem kontekstu ali pa so bile namenjene pitju 
(Ramsl 2011, 181; Rustoiu 2016a, 49; Repka 2017, 
215–218). Pri miniaturnih posodah v otroških 
grobovih je mogoča tudi razlaga, da so otroške 
posode za hrano in pijačo morale imeti manjše 
recipiente kot posode za odrasle (Repka 2017, 
215) oz. da so zaradi svojih dimenzij povezane z 
otroki (Kamp 2015, 182).
Otroški grobovi s starostno
značilnimi predmeti
Razen miniaturnih posod in steklenih jagod za 
zdaj v otroških grobovih v Zvonimirovem skoraj 
ni drugih predmetov, ki se ne bi pojavljali tudi 
v grobovih odraslih. Podobno je tudi na drugih 
grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini. Eden od predmetov, 
značilnih za otroke, so keramične ropotulje, ki 
so redka najdba na najdiščih latenske kulture, saj 
so bile verjetno povečini izdelane iz organskih 
materialov. Gre za arheološko prepoznaven objekt 
(Crawford 2009, 59). Ropotulje so znane iz mlajše 
železne dobe, zlasti iz poznolatenskih grobov v 
srednjem Porenju (Mandera 1969; Polenz 1975, 
257, sl. 17; Heun 1999, 67; Rustoiu, Berecki 2015b, 
263–265, sl. 5: 1, list št. 1; Rustoiu 2019, 165–166, 
sl. 33: 3). Poudarjeno je, da se ropotuljice, tako kot 
amuleti, najpogosteje pojavljajo v grobovih otrok 
in deklet kot ranljivejših skupin v skupnosti (Pauli 
1975, 186; Maier 2004, 141–142; Rustoiu, Berecki 
2015b, 265; Rustoiu, Gál 2018, 133–134; Rustoiu 
2019, 162–171). V grobu 595 na Kapiteljski njivi v 
Novem mestu je bila najdena kroglasta keramična 
ropotuljica (Križ 2001, 65, 139, kat. št. 390; 2005, 
17). Ker pa antropološka analiza žganih ostankov 
ni bila opravljena, ni znano, ali gre za otroški grob. 
Po drugi strani najdemo keramične ropotuljice tudi 
v grobovih odraslih (npr. Ilon 2008, 289–290, sl. 
4: 1; 5; Ilon, Nagy 2010, 77–78, sl. 10: 1; Rustoiu, 
Berecki 2015b, 265, sl. 6: 2). Najdbe kažejo, da brez 
poznavanja kontekstualnih podatkov ropotuljic ne 
moremo zanesljivo šteti med predmete, značilne 
samo za otroke.
Majhne antropomorfne in zoomorfne figurice se 
pogosto povezujejo z otroki, redko pa jih najdemo 
v grobovih. Preprosto keramično figurico valjaste 
oblike s krožnimi vdolbinami na glavi in telesu so 
našli v grobu 10 na grobišču Tiszavasvári, v kate-
rem je bil pokopan otrok, star 1–2 leti (Almássy 
1995, 59–60, Pl. 9: 2; Rustoiu 2019, 220–224, 252, 
sl. 51: 2). Tudi na grobišču Pottenbrun je bil v za-
sutju groba 10, v katerem je bil pokopan razkošno 
opremljen otrok, star okoli 1,5 leta, najden majhen 
keramični idol nejasne oblike (Ramsl 2002, 29, 
139, t. 33: 2; 2010, 93–94, sl. 16).
Čeprav igrače arheološko niso posebno vidne, 
so najpogosteje povezane z otroki in veljajo za 
pomembne v otroštvu (Brookshaw 2009, 368, 
381; Crawford 2009, 56–62; Thibault 2022, 242). 
Služile so lahko prenosu znanja in veščin skozi 
igro ter opazovanju sveta okoli sebe (Kamp 2015, 
180), bile so pomemben del socializacije otrok 
(Sánchez Romero 2008; Kamp 2015, 181–182). 
V mlajši železni dobi so kot igrače prepoznani 
majhni predmeti, ki posnemajo tiste standardnih 
dimenzij. Zanje se domneva, da se niso uporabljali 
le kot igrače, temveč tudi kot obredni ali funk-
cionalni predmeti (Kamp 2015, 182). Največkrat 
gre za miniaturne posode, najdene v grobovih, pri 
njihovi interpretaciji pa je pomemben kontekst 
odkritja (Rustoiu 2016a). Predvideva se, da so 
otroci opazovali odrasle in svet okoli sebe ter 
poskušali samostojno izdelati kaj zase, morda 
keramično posodo, čeprav ni izključeno, da so se 
določenih veščin naučili od spretnejših vrstnikov 
(Kamp 2015, 173–174, 180). Figurici iz omenje-
nih dveh grobov bi lahko prav zaradi konteksta 
odkritja (Kamp 2015, 182) šteli za igrači, ki sta 
pripadali vanju pokopanima otrokoma, kar priča 
o individualizaciji tako groba kot predmetov v 
njem (Kraus 2002, 107–108, tab. 1; Baxter 2005, 
63; 2008, 162; Röder 2010; 2022; Dasen 2012; 
Sofaer 2015, 74; Rustoiu 2016a; Riede et al. 2018; 
2021; Langley, Litster 2018 itd.). Po drugi strani 
pa gre pri idolu z grobišča Tiszavasvári morda za 
upodobitev pokojne deklice, in ne za igračo, kar 
skupaj z najdbo odlomka žrmelj kaže na magični 
ritual (Rustoiu 2019, 222, 224, 250). Pravzaprav 
ima vsak predmet svojo lastno biografijo in ga je 
mogoče uporabiti kot igračo. Tudi predmeti, nare-
jeni iz nekega drugega razloga, dobijo nov pomen, 
ko se enkrat uporabijo za igro (Crawford 2009; 
Hirsch 2019; Thibault 2022, 241–245, 247; Röder 
2022). Ker jih je arheološko težko identificirati, 
110 Marko DIZDAR
menimo, da bi morali pri raziskavah upoštevati 
tudi igro in to, kako se predmeti uporabljajo 
(Thibault 2022, 242–243). Igrače so najpogosteje 
izdelovali odrasli, predvsem starši, verjetno prav 
za otroke. So odraz dojemanja odraslih o tem, kaj 
si otroci pravzaprav želijo, gre za prenos njihovih 
idej, še posebej, če so predmeti majhni in izdelani 
po zahtevnem postopku(Brookshow 2009, 379–381; 
Kamp 2015, 181–182; Röder 2022, 252).
ZAKLJUČEK
Raziskave so pokazale, da Zvonimirovo in tudi 
druga grobišča latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini 
razkrivajo kompleksne skupnosti z jasnim izraža-
njem posameznikove identitete prek pogrebnega 
rituala, strukture groba in različnih kombinacij 
najdb. Te skupnosti so se zavedale umrljivosti 
otrok ter so imele tako kot pri odraslih kulturno 
določen postopek in vsebino pogrebne obravnave. 
Na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem so 
odkrili 130 grobov, od tega je bilo 81 antropološko 
analiziranih. Po rezultatih analize so na grobišču 
pokopavali pokojnike vseh starostnih skupin, tudi 
otroke. Do zdaj je bilo identificiranih 12 otroških 
grobov, ki so bili odkriti na celotnem območju 
grobišča s pomembnimi kontekstualnimi podatki 
(sl. 2). Otroci so bili najpogosteje pokopani sa-
mostojno, včasih pa skupaj z odraslim, največkrat 
žensko. Enake ugotovitve veljajo tudi za druga 
grobišča latenske kulture v Karpatski kotlini in 
vzhodnih Alpah, kjer so bili otroški grobovi doslej 
redko predmet posebnih raziskav (Ramsl 2010; 
Rustoiu 2016a; Bujna 2019; Ramsl, Nowotny 2020; 
Mauthner 2023).
Rezultati bioarheološke analize grobnih sestojev 
otroških grobov iz Zvonimirovega in analize raz-
položljivih podatkov za otroške grobove z drugih 
grobišč v Karpatski kotlini odpirajo možnosti za 
preučevanje otrok in otroštva, upoštevajoč prispe-
vek otrok okolju, ki so mu pripadali (Lillehammer 
1989, 102–103; 2000; 2010, 22–24). Zato smo 
skušali prodreti v odnose, ki so jih imeli otroci s 
svetom okoli sebe, tako naravnim kot kulturnim, 
oziroma z okoljem, ki jih je obdajalo, z njihovimi 
družinskimi člani, vrstniki in celotno skupnostjo 
(Thompson et al. 2014, 2–6). Vendar pa otroških 
grobov oziroma tistega, kar je krojilo njihova 
življenja, ne moremo jemati kot odraz življenja. 
Brez poznavanja grobov polnoletnih pokojnikov 
ni mogoče ustvariti celovite slike skupnosti v 
preteklosti.
Rezultati bioarheološke analize otroških gro-
bov so odprli številna vprašanja o življenju otrok 
v mlajši železni dobi in njihovem otroštvu. Na 
otroške grobove gledamo kot na presek biološke 
in kulturne identitete (Sofaer Dervenski 2000; 
Halcrow, Ward 2018), ki opredeljuje biološko in 
socialno starost vsakega posameznika (Rebay-Salis-
bury, Pany-Kucera 2020). To omogoča raziskovanje 
otroštva kot pomembnega dela življenja vsakega 
posameznika (Perry 2006; Baxter 2008; Muller et 
al. 2019 itd.) ter družbenih vlog otrok v skupno-
stih, katerih pomemben del so bili (Chamberlein 
1997; Baxter 2005; 2008, 159–160). Med odrašča-
njem so bili otroci podvrženi opaznim biološkim 
spremembam z lastno materialno kulturo (Sofaer 
Dervenski 2000). Dolžina otroštva kot kulturnega 
fenomena (Baxter 2008, 159–163; Kamp 2015, 
173–175; Murphy 2017; Murphy, Le Roy 2017, 
5) pa je bila odvisna od različnih dejavnikov, kot 
so čas, prostor, družbena in rodovna pripadnost 
(Brookshow 2009, 366–367).
S pogrebnimi rituali in grobnimi sestoji so sku-
pnosti, tudi zvonimirovska, prikazovale pripadnost 
otrok določenim družbenim, spolnim in starostnim 
skupinam. Vedno pa je treba upoštevati, da grobni 
sestoji lahko ali pa tudi ne odražajo spol, starost 
ali socialno identiteto otroka, torej so lahko od-
raz družbene in tudi osebne izbire (Kamp 2015, 
179). Starost pogosto ni edini element družbene 
organizacije, ki ga je mogoče prepoznati v po-
kopih, saj se lahko s smrtjo materializirajo tudi 
druge družbene vloge ali identitete. Iz pogrebnih 
kontekstov otrok je mogoče razbrati vzporedna oz. 
večkratna sporočila (Thompson et al. 2014, 5–6; 
Murphy 2017, 1; Murphy, Le Roy 2017, 8–9). Smrt 
otroka je verjetno veljala za nenavaden dogodek, 
ki je nenadoma končal njegovo življenje. Vendar 
pa je bila skupnost verjetno na to pripravljena in 
je imela kulturno določeno zaporedje pogrebnih 
obredov. Zgodnja smrt otroka je verjetno močno 
vplivala na starše ter druge člane družine in sku-
pnosti, njegova smrt je bila izguba na individualni 
in družbeni ravni. Vplivala je na prihodnost družine 
in skupnosti, ki je skušala ohraniti spomin nanj, 
saj so tudi otroci sodelovali v številnih vidikih 
življenja (Kraus 2002, 106; Murphy 2011; Kamp 
2015, 180; Zweifel 2015, 125).
O otrokovem pogrebnem ritualu in grobnem 
sestoju so verjetno odločali najbližji žalujoči 
(Taylor 2014, 180), zato so imeli otroci na grobi-
ščih latenske kulture, tudi v Zvonimirovem, enako 
pogrebno obravnavo kot odrasli. Pri pogrebnih 
obredih, povezanih z njihovimi umrlimi brati in 
111Otroški grobovi na srednjelatenskem grobišču v Zvonimirovem (Hrvaška)
sestrami ali prijatelji, so lahko imeli vlogo tudi 
drugi otroci (Murphy 2011, 68–69). Čeprav je 
bilo na latenskih grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini 
ugotovljeno veliko število otroških grobov, je 
to še vedno majhno v primerjavi s pričakovano 
umrljivostjo otrok (npr. Goodman, Armelagos 
1989; Scott 1999; Chamberlain 2006; Lewis 2007; 
2011; 2016; Redfern 2007; Bacvarov 2008; Fahlan-
der 2013; Gilmore, Halcrow 2015; Murphy, 2017 
itd). To bi lahko pomenilo, da niso bili vsi otroci 
pokopani na grobiščih oziroma da je bil pogrebni 
ritual delno selektiven in kulturno pogojen. Na to 
kažejo tudi pokopi, predvsem najmlajših otrok, v 
naseljih. Vendar se zdi, da znano število grobov 
na grobiščih in pokopov v naseljih še vedno ne 
more razložiti premajhne zastopanosti najmlaj-
ših otrok, kar vodi v razmišljanje o nekaterih 
drugih, arheološko nevidnih pogrebnih praksah. 
Vsekakor pa pogrebni rituali kažejo, da so bile 
pogrebne prakse pri otrocih enako zapletene kot 
pri odraslih. Pri analizi otroških grobov lahko 
razlike v primerjavi z odraslimi delno opazimo v 
sestojih grobov oziroma v delu, ki se nanaša na 
priložene predmete, pri čemer norm in pravil, ki 
veljajo za izbor predmetov, ni mogoče enostavno 
prepoznati. Ali najdbe v grobu odražajo življenjski 
slog otroka, ki jih je imel in nosil, ni mogoče z 
gotovostjo trditi, vedno se bo namreč postavilo 
vprašanje, ali predmeti ustrezajo vsakdanji opremi 
pokojnega otroka in ali odražajo njegov status ali 
ne (Kraus 2002, 108; Kamp 2015, 179). Včasih 
je opaziti, da so bili v otroške grobove položeni 
predmeti, ki jim po dimenzijah ne ustrezajo ali pa 
so bili že uporabljeni (Kraus 2002, 110; Gustavs 
2004; Lettman 2018). To lahko nakazuje, da je 
zgodaj umrli otrok v grobu predstavljen v vlogi, 
ki bi jo imel pozneje. Takšni predmeti lahko na 
simbolni ravni pomenijo zamujeno socialno sta-
rost in neuresničeno vlogo v skupnosti. Po drugi 
strani pa so bili nekateri otroci pokopani na način, 
značilen za otroke (Zweifel 2015, 124–126). Bogati 
otroški grobovi, ki se po kakovosti in količini 
najdb ne razlikujejo od grobov odraslih, verjetno 
kažejo na to, da vsi deli noše in nakit ter komplet 
keramičnih posod niso bili otrokova last. Malo je 
verjetno, da je otrok z lastnimi dejanji v skupnosti 
dosegel določen družbeni položaj, kar se odraža 
v količini in raznolikosti grobnih pridatkov, zato 
takšni grobovi pravzaprav odražajo status družine 
in sorodnikov (Rissanen, Alder 2011, 156; Zweifel 
2015, 124). To bi pomenilo, da prikazani status ni 
bil odvisen od starosti. Večina najdb kaže, da niso 
bile namenjene le polaganju v otroške grobove, 
prav tako ni razlik v sestavi najdb glede na starost. 
Nekateri predmeti v otroških grobovih, kot so 
obeski v funkciji amuleta, ki so posebej pogosti 
v zgodnjelatenskih grobovih, bi lahko bili dokaz 
čustvene povezave med pokopom in otrokom (Rö-
der 2010, 8). Amulete so lahko izdelali posebej za 
otroka, da bi ga zaščitili pred prezgodnjo smrtjo ali 
nesrečo, in jih položili v grob, da bi ga ščitili tudi 
po smrti, saj tega sami niso zmogli (Pauli 1975, 161; 
Sankot 1980, 50; Ramsl 2010, 95). Če primerjamo 
grobove otrok in mladostnikov, so opazne razlike v 
grobnih sestojih tako na grobišču Zvonimirovo kot 
na drugih grobiščih v Karpatski kotlini. Verjetno 
so dokaz biološke spremembe, ki se je odražala 
tudi v spremembi družbene identitete. Otroci so 
z določenimi obredi prehoda zapustili otroštvo, 
verjetno pogosto zaznamovano z dogodki, ki so jih 
postavili v velike preizkušnje. Sledili so novi časi 
in izzivi, pri katerih jim je bilo v pomoč vse, kar 
so se prek igre in opazovanja naučili od starejših.
Prevedel: Primož Pavlin
112 Marko DIZDAR
Marko Dizdar
Institut za arheologiju
Jurjevska ulica 15
HR-10000 Zagreb
marko.dizdar@iarh.hr
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3964-9002
Suppl. Tables / Tabele: http://iza.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/razno/Dizdar_Suppl_Tables_AV_76_2025.pdf
Illustrations: Fig. 2–7 (made by: Arheoplan Ltd.).
Slikovno gradivo: Sl. 2–7 (izdelava: Arheoplan Ltd.).