Nonadult inhumations have the potential to give insights into the attitudes of past societies toward age. Adult individuals have been afforded complex mortuary programs in Chalcolithic cemeteries in western Cyprus. This study explores what mortuary practices applied to nonadult individuals at Souskiou-Laona, a Middle Chalcolithic site with complex mortuary programs that include articulated, semi-articulated, and fully commingled individuals. The latter were organised into elaborate bonestacks enveloping the feet of the latest articulated individuals interred. Ninety-two archaeologically intact mortuary contexts were excavated at Souskiou-Laona cemetery, containing 203 individuals (31 articulated skeletons and 172 individuals as commingled and/or semi-articulated remains). Twenty-four of these are nonadults. Bone preservation is poor, with high levels of fragmentation and surface erosion. Nonadult remains were analysed for bone element representation using the Bone Representation Index (BRI), and the positioning of nonadult skeletal elements within tombs and in relation to adult remains. Further comparisons were made between nonadults recovered from the cemetery, and nonadults recovered from primary burials in the contemporaneous settlement nearby. BRI results indicate that several nonadults present skeletal elements from all parts of the body, including small and fragile bones. The primary mortuary program afforded to nonadults at Souskiou-Laona cemetery involved primary inhumation of the body in tombs, intentional disarticulation of skeletal remains after decomposition, and subsequent integration into the bonestack as part of the communal whole. Bone elements of nonadults were incorporated into the bonestacks, not as localized entities. To our knowledge, Souskiou-Laona is the first Middle Chalcolithic cemetery for which detailed data on commingled bone element positioning have been documented in Cyprus, and the only cemetery for which both nonadult BRI and bone element positioning data is available in the wider region.

中文翻译：

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被处置的年轻人：塞浦路斯铜石时代复杂太平间项目中的非成人元素表示和骨骼定位

非成人土葬有可能深入了解过去社会对年龄的态度。塞浦路斯西部的铜石墓地为成年个体提供了复杂的太平间计划。本研究探讨太平间做法应用到nonadult个人在Souskiou-什么老衲，中间铜石并用现场包括关节复杂太平间程序，半阐述，充分混合个人。后者被组织成精心制作的骨堆，包裹着最新被埋葬的铰接个体的脚。九十二考古学完整太平间上下文在Souskiou-出土老衲墓地，包含 203 人（31 具关节骨骼和 172 人为混合和/或半关节型遗骸）。其中二十四个是非成年人。骨骼保存较差，具有高度的碎裂和表面侵蚀。使用骨表征指数 (BRI) 分析了非成人遗骸的骨元素表征，以及非成人骨骼元素在坟墓中的定位以及与成人遗骸的关系。对从墓地中恢复的非成年人和从附近同期定居点的主要墓葬中恢复的非成年人进行了进一步的比较。BRI 结果表明，一些非成年人呈现出身体各个部位的骨骼元素，包括小而脆弱的骨骼。在Souskiou-给予nonadults主要太平间程序老衲墓地包括在坟墓中对尸体进行初步挖掘，分解后有意分离骨骼遗骸，然后作为公共整体的一部分整合到骨堆中。非成人的骨元素被纳入骨堆，而不是作为局部实体。据我们所知，Souskiou-老衲是一次中东铜石墓地里面详细介绍上混并骨骼元件的定位数据在塞浦路斯已被记录在案，并为这两个nonadult BRI和骨骼元件的定位数据是在更广泛的区域唯一可用的墓地。