Boys and girls in the Bronze Age Europe: burial practices at the Mokrin necropolis (2100-1800 BC) Marija Krečković Gavrilović1, Mina Amzirkov1, Marko Porčić1, Katharina Rebay-Salisbury2, Fabian Kanz3, Michel Wolf4, Lidija Milašinović5 & Sofija Stefanović1 1 Laboratory of Bioarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia 2 Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna, Austria and Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria 3 Unit of Forensic Anthropology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria 4 Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Austria 5 National Museum Kikinda, Serbia Introduction Methods & Materials Fig. 1 – Location of the Maros culture necropolis Mokrin (2100 – 1800 BC), situated in Northern Serbia *Corresponding author: Marija Krečković Gavrilović marija.kreckovic@f.bg.ac.rs | Laboratory for Bioarchaeology | Department of Archaeology | Faculty of Philosophy | University of Belgrade Since the presence of animal bones in graves seems to represent a different dimension of variability, which is not related to sex, we decided to repeat the analysis excluding animal bones as a type of grave goods. This left us with a sample of 154 individuals (86 women and 68 men). In the repeated correspondence analysis, the first two dimensions explain 32% of the total variance. The Axis 1 (18% of total inertia) is the one separating the graves by sex (Fig. 3). In both Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 it is evident that some grave goods (like bone and metal needles, hair rings and bracelets) are almost exclusively found in the graves of women. For the subadult individuals, the first two dimensions of the correspondence analysis explain 39% of the total variance (Fig. 4), with Axis 2 (17.1% of total inertia) differentiating types of grave goods by sex. The only grave goods that seem to be specific to burials of girls, are bone needles and necklaces. As with adults, there are some weak statistically significant differences in types of grave goods, but other variables should be considered alongside sex/gender. For the adult individuals, the first two dimensions of the correspondence analysis explain 33% of the total variance (Fig. 2). Interestingly, Axis 1 is separating those graves that had animal bones from all the rest, while Axis 2 differentiates graves by sex. On the other hand, grave goods marked as typically male (like weapons), are found more often in the graves of women, than typically female grave goods are to be found in male burials. Results & Discussion Fig. 5 Grave 287 from Mokrin necropolis. Burial of an adult women in typical courched position, oriented South-North, on her left side. Photo documentation courtesy of National museum in Kikinda This research was supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Grant #6683 INFANO Girls and Boys in the Bronze Age Europe: Influence of biological sex on health, growth, nutrition and social position 2100-1500 BC. Conclusion References Buikstra, Jane E., and Douglas H. Ubelaker. 1994. Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. Arkansas Archeological Survey Research Series, no. 44. Fayetteville, AR: Arkansas Archeological Survey. Stewart, Nicolas Andre, Raquel Fernanda Gerlach, Rebecca L. Gowland, Kurt J. Gron, and Janet Montgomery. 2017. Sex determination of human remains from peptides in tooth enamel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114: 13649–54. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas. Žegarac, et. Al. 2021. "Ancient Genomes Provide Insights into Family Structure and the Heredity of Social Status in the Early Bronze Age of Southeastern Europe." Scientific Reports 11 (1). Research on the role of children in prehistoric societies, particularly concerning the impact of biological sex on their growth, development, and social status, is limited. This gap hampers our understanding of intersectionality between sex, gender, kinship and social s