Abstract
Adolescence is a critical period of the life course, encapsulating biological and social changes as individuals transition from childhood to adulthood. Its study therefore benefits from an approach that combines archaeological and bioarchaeological perspectives. In this talk, I will explore this topic through a case study from Victorian and Edwardian Cambridgeshire, England. Drawing on a database of over 13,000 individuals between the ages of 3 and 30, I utilize burial records, monument inscription records, and census data to explore the complex interrelated effects of age at death, gender, socioeconomic status, and year of death on the likelihood of an adolescent being buried with a stone monument. Disparities in this form of mortuary treatment suggest that the experience of adolescence in Victorian and Edwardian England varied significantly by gender and questions whether girls even had an adolescence period.
About the speaker
Dana Thacher completed her B.A. (Honours) at the University of Manitoba and M.A. at the University of Waterloo. Her earlier research examined Paleo-Inuit tent rings through GIS-based spatial analysis and explored Inuit interaction with material from the Franklin Expedition.
Currently pursuing her PhD at McMaster University, Dana’s research focuses on the commemoration of children in Cambridgeshire, England, and rural communities in Scotland and Ontario during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her work explores how social, cultural, and historical factors shape responses to childhood death and remembrance.