From the Sunghir Children to the Romito Dwarf

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Figure 2. The triple burial of Dolní Věstonice (Moravia). The specimen in the middle (Dolní Věstonice 15) is pathological. first, found in the Romito Cave (Calabria), deserves particular attention. The burial, dating to 11,150 150 BP (uncalibrated 14C date) (Alessio et al. 1966), includes an adolescent that appears to be held in the left arm of an adult female (fig. 3). The skeletons are lying parallel to a large stone with a beautiful engraving representing a bull (Graziosi 1963; Bachechi and Martini 2002). Romito is one of the few caves in Italy with parietal art, and this and the additional Epigravettian burials found there suggest that the site was probably embedded in a ritualistic context. More important, the adolescent skeleton (Romito 2) is abnormal, showing the typical stigmata of dwarfism. The diagnosis is that of acromesomelic dwarfism, an inherited autosomal recessive disorder resulting in severe growth deficiencies, marked bowing of the forearm bones, and frontal bulging, among other changes (Frayer et al. 1987; Frayer, Macchiarelli, and Mussi 1988). The meaning of the burial of the dwarf has been a matter of debate. Frayer and coworkers (1987) stress that, despite the physical impairments that would have been a substantial handicap in nomadic hunting and gathering, the dwarf survived to about 17 years of age and was buried in a selected cave. For these reasons, they consider this burial an early example of tolerance and care for a severely deformed individual. Dettwyler (1991) questions this view, which is based on the attitude towards disabled people in modern societies, and argues that the ethnographic record points to a wide range of reactions towards individuals perceived as “different.” These individuals may be feared, hated, or revered. Dettwyler concludes that we do not know whether this adolescent received special burial treatment in spite of being a dwarf or precisely because he was a dwarf. 449 The latter possibility becomes more tenable when we take the Sunghir and Dolní Věstonice cases into account. The three burials share significant points: all include a pathological individual, all are multiple burials, and all possibly include individuals of different sexes. It could be argued that the skeletal abnormalities exhibited by the Romito dwarf are more severe than those affecting either Sunghir 3 or Dolní Věstonice 15, weakening the idea of a patterned relationship between anomalous individuals and extraordinary burial treatment. The physical diversity of the latter individuals, however, may have been more perceptible than is suggested by skeletal changes alone, given that the hypothesized pathologies are frequently associated with soft-tissue anomalies (Formicola et al. 2001; Formicola and Buzhilova 2004). Multiple burials raise additional questions. The phenomenon is not restricted to pathological individuals and appears with intriguing frequency in the Gravettian around Europe and the Italian Epigravettian (tables 1 and 2). Additionally, whenever sex can be confidently diagnosed, a multiple burial includes individuals of different sexes, the only exception being the Arene Candide burial V (Cardini 1980)—in which an adult male is associated with a child of the same sex as determined by DNA analyses (Tarsi et al. n.d.)—and possibly the triple burial of Dolní Věstonice, given the uncertainty regarding the sex of the pathological skeleton. A multiple burial is not necessarily the result of a single event. Depending on temperature and soil conditions, softtissue and ligament decay may take weeks or months (Duday et al. 1990). Thus the reopening of a burial after a time for a further emplacement would not necessarily disturb the an- Figure 3. The double burial from Romito Cave (Italy). The dwarf (Romito 2) is on the right and appears to be held in the left arm of the female individual.
Table 2. Composition of Epigravettian Burials from Italy Specimen Burial Age Sex Single Multiple Child Adolescent Adult Male Female Unsexed Riparo Villabruna 1 x – – – x x – – Riparo Tagliente 1 x – – – x x – – Arene Candide 2 x – – – x x – – Arene Candide 5 and 6 – double AC 6 – AC 5 xx – – Arene Candide 8 x – x – – – – x Arene Candide 10 x – – – x x – – Arene Candide 11 x – x – – x – – Arene Candide 13 x – – x – – – x Arene Candide 14 and 15 – double AC 15 – AC 14 – – xx Arene Candide 16 x – – x – x – – Grotte des Enfants 1 and 2 – double xx – – – – xx Grotte des Enfants 3 x – – – x – x – Vado all’Arancio 1 x – – – x x – – Vado all’Arancio 2 x – x – – – – x Riparo Continenza 7 x – – – x x – – Grotta Maritza 1 x – x – – – – x Paglicci 11 x – – – x x – – Grotta delle Mura 1 x – x – – – – x Romanelli 1 x – – – x x – – Romanelli 2 x – x – – – – x Romanelli 3 x – x – – – – x Romito (Papasidero) 1 and 2 – double – R 2 R 1 R 2? R 1 – Romito (Papasidero) 3 x – – – x x – – Romito (Papasidero) 4 x – – x – x – Romito (Papasidero) 5 and 6 – double – – xx R 6 R 5 – San Teodoro 1 x – – – x – x – San Teodoro 2 x – – – x – – x San Teodoro 3 x – – – x – – x San Teodoro 4 x – – – x – x – Note: Specimens are listed by geographic location from north to south and are numbered according to Alciati, Pesce Delfino, and Vacca (2005). 450 Current Anthropology Volume 48, Number 3, June 2007
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