This article utilises skeletal evidence (n = 57) from settlement features and graves at Unterhautzenthal, Lower Austria, to outline our methodological approach to researching motherhood in prehistory. Unterhautzenthal includes the grave of a pregnant teenager, a triple burial of a woman with two children and a family grave of a man, woman and baby; additional women's graves include remains of neonates and young children. Comparing archaeological context information with osteobiographical data allows us to draw inferences about the social status of women and the ways Bronze Age motherhood was conceptualised. The archaeological approach includes a gender and age analysis of material culture and Social Index calculations. The osteological analyses include age at death, sex, body height, health indicators, and pathologies, with an emphasis on pelvic changes. Physical traces that may relate to strain through pregnancy and childbirth were explored in detail. In addition to morphological assessment of the entire skeletal collection, we applied tooth cementum annulation analysis, 14 C dating, and δ 13 C/δ 15 N isotope analysis to selected individuals. These data, in conjunction with demographic modelling, enable us to draw conclusions about women's age at first pregnancy and the average number of children per woman, as well as the cultural and social context of motherhood.

The identification of sex-specific peptides in human tooth enamel by nanoflow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS) represents a quantum leap for the study of childhood and social relations more generally. Determining sex-related differences in prehistoric child rearing and mortality has been hampered by the insufficient accuracy in determining the biological sex of juveniles. We conducted mass spectrometric analysis to identify sex-specific peptides in the dental enamel of a child from a settlement pit of the Early Bronze Age settlement of Schleinbach, Austria (c. 1950–1850 bc). Four perimortal impression fractures on the skull of a 5–6-year-old child indicate an intentional killing, with a co-buried loom weight as possible murder weapon. Proteomic analysis, conducted for the first time on prehistoric teeth in Austria, determined the child’s sex as male. While we cannot conclusively determine whether the child was the victim of conflicts between village groups or was slain by members of his own community, we suggest that contextual evidence points to the latter. A possible trigger of violence was the follow-on effects of an uncontrolled middle ear infection revealed by an osteological analysis. The boy from Schleinbach highlights the potential for further investigation of gender-biased violence, infanticide and child murder based on the recently developed method of proteomic sex identification.

Specific changes at the ventrosuperior margin (apex) of the ala ossis sacri—an extension or a notch and respective corresponding structures at the iliac auricular facet—were noted in female skeletons. We suggest terming them sacral preauricular extension (SPE) and sacral preauricular notch (SPN) and propose a recording system. We analysed pelvic remains from Bronze Age female and male individuals for comparison from three different sites in Austria in the course of the ongoing European Research Council‐funded project The Value of Mothers to Society. In total, 52 sacral remains from the right side and 34 from the left of female individuals, as well as 30 sacral remains from the right and 24 from the left side of male individuals, were recorded. Commonly addressed pelvic features and the newly described changes were systematically analysed. The sacral preauricular extension occurred uni‐ and, in some cases, bilaterally in females of all ages, always at the level of the terminal line, the sacral preauricular notch only unilaterally. Corresponding structures at the ilium occurred in 66.7% and 80% of the affected individuals (right/left side, respectively). In total, a sacral preauricular extension was found on the right side in 13.5% and on the left side in 14.7% of the Bronze Age females, and 9.6% was affected by a notch. The observed changes were not found in males. We argue that the observed changes stand in a causal relationship with pregnancy and birth events. The hormonally induced ligament laxening during pregnancies causes an increased movement in the sacroiliac joint. Postural changes encouraged by weight gain can cause balance shifts that may lead to the observed bony extensions at the sacroiliac apex. The sacral preauricular notch may be related to birthing events at an early age. We present a nomenclature, a detailed description of the morphological modifications, and propose a recording system.