Child labour at Amarna

[Duncan Head]

Judging from finds at the North Tombs Cemetery:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/06/did-children-build-the-ancient-egyptian-city-of-armana-

[Patrick Waterson]

Intriguing: from the age distribution, in which 90% are 7-25 years old distributed roughly evenly on each side of the 15-year mark, and 2% of the total under seven years old, it does look as if a slave population was imported.  Amarna took about six years to construct (Year 6 to Year 12 of Akhetaten's reign) so anyone under seven was probably born there whereas anyone of seven or over was not.

10% of the deceased were over 25, which suggests that older members of this particular population were better at surviving, while the injuries and conditions noted are consistent with the kind of forced heavy labour to which captives were subjected in most cultures.

What I think this points to is not that the workforce consisted of teenagers and children, but that teenagers and children were part of it, and the part which suffered most losses.  Those who arrived on site as fit adults seem to have had a better survival rate than those who grew up under stressed conditions.

Being slaves in Egypt would mean being buried in Egyptian fashion.  The DNA analysis may help to determine ethnicity, although bearing in mind the attempts to analyse the DNA of various pharaohs the results may not be altogether dependable.

Good find, Duncan.