Death of mother and child due to dystocia in 19th century Portugal

Abstract

While historical documents indicate that complications during pregnancy, labour or soon after birth was a common cause of death in past populations, to date only a few archaeological cases have been reported. Here we present an example, unearthed in a small Portuguese churchyard, of an adult female buried with an infant at her pelvis. The pair appear to have died during labour, as the infant's estimated age at death corresponds to a full term pregnancy, while the distribution of the bones at the adult's pelvic girdle is consistent with birth positioning. The association between the skeletons and their cause of death is analysed, discussed and compared with similar archaeological evidence.

A Case of Maternal and Perinatal Death in Neolithic Southern Vietnam, c. 2100–1050 BCE

“…AS07H1M3a also had a brachypellic pelvis and an accessory pseudoarticulation between the transverse process of her L5 and sacral ala. The multiple indicators of stress seen in this woman are mirrored in many other bioarchaeological descriptions of females who died during pregnancy or childbirth: several manifesting caries and antemortem tooth loss (Owsley & Bradtmiller, ; Malgosa et al ., ; Seguí et al ., ; Flores & Sánchez, ; Cruz & Codinha, ), one with linear enamel hypoplasia (Pounder et al ., ), two having spondylolysis of L5 (Seguí et al ., ; Flores & Sánchez, ), one with a sacral deformity (Pounder et al ., ) and deformed sacroiliac articulations noted in one individual (Wells, ). In two mummified cases, there was evidence for porotic hyperostosis in one, and pneumonitis and a collapsed lung in the other (Arriaza et al ., ).…”

Familiar Kinship? Palaeogenetic and Isotopic Evidence from a Triple Burial of the Cogotas I Archaeological Culture (Bronze Age, Iberian Peninsula)

“…Although few cases have been published, increasingly precise archaeological recording has, in recent years, led to the reporting of the burials of pregnant women in very different chronological and cultural contexts (Malgosa et al . ; De Miguel ; Cruz and Codinha ; Willis and Oxenham ; etc.). These precedents provide criteria for the study and explanation of this kind of burial, as well as for the precautions involved in its taphonomic assessment and the problems associated with its cultural appraisal.…”

“…As stated above, the decomposition process took place in a secondary empty space, the grave, which allowed movements of varying degree even beyond the space originally occupied by the bodies, as seen in the case of the two adults. This could explain the relatively wide dispersal of the infant's bones, owing to the protection provided by the mother's placenta and body, which delayed the entry of sediment (Alduc and Blondiaux , 298–301; Cruz and Codinha , 1–2). However, in this case a further two basic points should be taken into account.…”

“…First, the skeletization rate is normally faster in infants than in adults (Lewis , 23), which implies greater speed in the disarticulation of anatomical connections of the foetus in an ‘empty space’. Second, in pregnant women, the gases generated during the decomposition process tend to expel the placenta, and with it, the remains of the child (Alduc and Blondiaux ; Pinheiro ; Lewis ; Cruz and Codinha ). These two phenomena, especially considering the size, weight and shape of foetal bones, may explain the location of the cranial portions of the terminal foetus and, in general, the wide dispersal of its skeletal remains in the deposit.…”

A case of semi-combusted pregnant female in the Phoenician-Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy)

“…Usually, the cause of death of pregnant women is due to a situation of dystocia caused by a position and/or presentation of the fetus incompatible with the proper development of an eutocic delivery (Mercado Pedroza, 2010). Cases have been described in which disproportion between fetal head and pelvic dimensions existed (Cruz and Codinha, 2010;Wells, 1978), dystocic childbirths in which babies' extremities were protracted through the mother's pelvic canal (Malgosa et al, 2004) and they were in a podalic position (Campillo et al, 1998).…”