Around 8000 years ago, throughout the Neolithic world a new type of artefact appeared, small spoons masterly made from cattle bone, usually interpreted as tools, due to their intensive traces of use. Contrary to those interpretations, the small dimensions of spoons and presence of intensive traces of use led us to the assumption that they were used for feeding babies. In order to test that assumption we compared 2230 marks on three spoons from the Neolithic site of Grad-Starcevo in Serbia (5800-5450 cal BC) with 3151 primary teeth marks produced experimentally. This study has shown that some of the marks on spoons were made by primary teeth, which indicate their usage in feeding babies. The production of a new type of artefact to feed babies is probably related to the appearance of a new type of weaning food, and the abundance of spoons indicates that new baby gruels became an important innovation in prehistoric baby-care.
TY - JOUR
AU - Stefanović, Sofija
AU - Petrović, Bojan
AU - Porčić, Marko
AU - Penezić, Kristina
AU - Pendić, Jugoslav
AU - Dimitrijević, Vesna
AU - Živaljević, Ivana
AU - Vuković, Sonja
AU - Jovanović, Jelena
AU - Kojić, Sanja
AU - Starović, Andrej
AU - Blagojević, Tamara
PY - 2019
UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2916
AB - Around 8000 years ago, throughout the Neolithic world a new type of artefact appeared, small spoons masterly made from cattle bone, usually interpreted as tools, due to their intensive traces of use. Contrary to those interpretations, the small dimensions of spoons and presence of intensive traces of use led us to the assumption that they were used for feeding babies. In order to test that assumption we compared 2230 marks on three spoons from the Neolithic site of Grad-Starcevo in Serbia (5800-5450 cal BC) with 3151 primary teeth marks produced experimentally. This study has shown that some of the marks on spoons were made by primary teeth, which indicate their usage in feeding babies. The production of a new type of artefact to feed babies is probably related to the appearance of a new type of weaning food, and the abundance of spoons indicates that new baby gruels became an important innovation in prehistoric baby-care.
PB - Public Library Science, San Francisco
T2 - PLoS One
T1 - Bone spoons for prehistoric babies: Detection of human teeth marks on the Neolithic artefacts from the site Grad-Starcevo (Serbia)
IS - 12
VL - 14
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0225713
ER -
@article{
author = "Stefanović, Sofija and Petrović, Bojan and Porčić, Marko and Penezić, Kristina and Pendić, Jugoslav and Dimitrijević, Vesna and Živaljević, Ivana and Vuković, Sonja and Jovanović, Jelena and Kojić, Sanja and Starović, Andrej and Blagojević, Tamara",
year = "2019",
abstract = "Around 8000 years ago, throughout the Neolithic world a new type of artefact appeared, small spoons masterly made from cattle bone, usually interpreted as tools, due to their intensive traces of use. Contrary to those interpretations, the small dimensions of spoons and presence of intensive traces of use led us to the assumption that they were used for feeding babies. In order to test that assumption we compared 2230 marks on three spoons from the Neolithic site of Grad-Starcevo in Serbia (5800-5450 cal BC) with 3151 primary teeth marks produced experimentally. This study has shown that some of the marks on spoons were made by primary teeth, which indicate their usage in feeding babies. The production of a new type of artefact to feed babies is probably related to the appearance of a new type of weaning food, and the abundance of spoons indicates that new baby gruels became an important innovation in prehistoric baby-care.",
publisher = "Public Library Science, San Francisco",
journal = "PLoS One",
title = "Bone spoons for prehistoric babies: Detection of human teeth marks on the Neolithic artefacts from the site Grad-Starcevo (Serbia)",
number = "12",
volume = "14",
doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0225713"
}
Stefanović, S., Petrović, B., Porčić, M., Penezić, K., Pendić, J., Dimitrijević, V., Živaljević, I., Vuković, S., Jovanović, J., Kojić, S., Starović, A.,& Blagojević, T.. (2019). Bone spoons for prehistoric babies: Detection of human teeth marks on the Neolithic artefacts from the site Grad-Starcevo (Serbia). in PLoS One
Public Library Science, San Francisco., 14(12).
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225713
Stefanović S, Petrović B, Porčić M, Penezić K, Pendić J, Dimitrijević V, Živaljević I, Vuković S, Jovanović J, Kojić S, Starović A, Blagojević T. Bone spoons for prehistoric babies: Detection of human teeth marks on the Neolithic artefacts from the site Grad-Starcevo (Serbia). in PLoS One. 2019;14(12).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225713 .
Stefanović, Sofija, Petrović, Bojan, Porčić, Marko, Penezić, Kristina, Pendić, Jugoslav, Dimitrijević, Vesna, Živaljević, Ivana, Vuković, Sonja, Jovanović, Jelena, Kojić, Sanja, Starović, Andrej, Blagojević, Tamara, "Bone spoons for prehistoric babies: Detection of human teeth marks on the Neolithic artefacts from the site Grad-Starcevo (Serbia)" in PLoS One, 14, no. 12 (2019),
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225713 . .
