The Dying Child The Death and Personhood of Children in Ancient Israel

The study of childhood death is tightly entwined with the concerns of a field that is relatively new to the scholarship of ancient Israel: personhood. An exploration of the concept of personhood is needed in the context of childhood death. In The Dying Child, Kristine Henriksen Garroway argues for a stronger position of the child in current archeological trends. Many archaeologists hesitate to ascribe various domestic objects to children, despite their obvious presence in the ancient home. This functionally ignores an entire class of people in the study of death. In acknowledging the personhood of children in burials and other deathly-rituals, Garroway considers emotional and personal aspects of ancient Israeli life - filling a critical gap in our understanding of this culture.