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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol.68, 2025 (AHCI, Scopus)
Stable isotope analysis of archaeological human remains can provide us with the potential to study cultural practices in past people. This study focuses on examining a particular cultural practice, that of the weaning process. We apply δ13C and δ15N values from bulk bone collagen of subadults (n = 28; Early Bronze Age n = 5, Middle Bronze Age n = 23) (in conjunction with and relative to adult values) from Bronze Age Kültepe to investigate the timing and nature of the weaning process. By integrating stable isotope analysis of subadults with contemporary textual evidence, this study investigates what the timing and pattern of the weaning process at Bronze Age Kültepe can infer about broader cultural practices, household dynamics, and socio-economic factors. Kültepe, in east central Anatolia, is one of the largest Bronze Age settlements in Anatolia, inhabited from the Early Bronze Age to the Middle Bronze Age, and provides a good case study for being able to investigate how scientific methodologies and textual analysis can be combined to examine cultural practices; in this case, the weaning process. The results of this study suggest that, overall, the weaning process commenced at around 1–1.5 years of age and was completed by around 2.5–3 years of age. These estimated ages are in general agreement for isotopically observed weaning process ages and duration for prehistoric populations in Anatolia and the Near East, as well as the textual evidence from Kültepe.