Children's Burials Continued

Norman, Naomi J. "Death And Burial Of Roman Children: The Case Of The Yasmina Cemetery At Carthage—Part I, Setting The Stage." Mortality 7.3 (2002): 302-323. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

 Norman, Naomi J. "Death And Burial Of Roman Children: The Case Of The Yasmina Cemetery At Carthage--Part II, The Archaeological Evidence." Mortality 8.1 (2003): 36-47. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Q&A, 
 Q: 
"I also found the fact about graves lined with white plaster interesting! I wonder what their reasons were (besides social status) for doing that?"

 A:
According to the reading, there are two theories on the use of white plaster for burials: One is that it identified Christian graves because they expressed concern for maintaining the integrity of the body after death. Two is that it was used only on bodies too old for burial in amphoras (large storage vessels).

Part I:

Continuing with the article from my previous post Norman makes an excellent point to keep in mind, the geographical expanse of the empire causes tremendous variation in the funeral and burial practices of children. (this also causes a variation in the funeral and burial practices of the adults as many cultures intertwined previous traditions with the Roman traditions)

 Funeral processions for children were held at night "away from the public gaze" and were seen as private family events versus the extravagant social events that were reserved for adults. The funeral procession was lit by torches which is thought to either diminish the child's terror or to dispel pollution brought on by a child's death. The article also states that it was "necessary to sacrifice a pig in order to mark the grave legally as a grave" which I don't think I have read before but some of the graves did include pig bones. (I have read of other sorts of sacrifices at the Roman grave sites but not a pig specifically)

Another practice that I don't remember reading on was at the time of death the family would call out the name of the deceased to ascertain that death had occurred.  

Part II:

The second article examines various archeological evidence from different areas of the empire to determine the different practices.

The use of amphoras in burials was typically used to distinguish children from adults. 

A cemetery in Thysdrus was reserved specifically for children and was arranged by age.

Many of the cemeteries showed the transition from original practice to Roman practices. The original graves were more basic and would often be lacking markers while the Roman graves would be more elaborate masonry tombs that markers and epitaphs with the child's age.