Juvenile burial practices in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Ireland: interpretations of the atypical

Examinations of atypical burials can give nuance to the results of larger statistical studies which, by definition, lookmore at typical practice, and focus more on structure, at the expense of agency. This paper examines six unusual burials of children of the single burial tradition of the Irish later Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. In some cases these atypical burials seem to be displaying an emotional response to tragedy, in others they may demonstrate a practical response to unexpected events. One of the burials discussed appears to indicate some form of exhumation and reburial, possibly the result of migration, while another hints at the scale of polities which emerged in the Early Bronze Age. Taken collectively, they add texture to an era about which we know more at a societal level than at the level of the individual.