Guttus: Baby Bottle in Mass Grave
Small terracotta vessel called a guttus--essentially an ancient Greek baby bottle--was found near the skeleton of a baby in ancient mass graves recently unearthed on the island of Sicily.
Archaeologists at Himera discovered the skeletons of many newborn babies, likely buried in the fifth century B.C.
"Infant mortality was very high at the time," lead archaeologist Vassallo said. "We found the tiny skeletons placed inside funerary amphorae [jars], like in a womb."
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Photograph courtesy Stefano Vassallo/Archaeological Department of the Cultural Superintendence of Palermo
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