Birthing in prehistory.

Since primitive peoples lack the scientific knowledge upon which modern medicine is based, the correspondence between many primitive customs and modern practice may seem extraordinary. Actually, however, this correspondence is not surprising, for it is the result of many thousand years of wrestling with life’s problems. The customs of primitive people are the product of an unbelievable amount of experimentation… The present day customs of each society thus represent the net result of all that its members have learned about the art of living.

Our first upright shuffle across the savannah, some seven million years ago, set in motion a chain of evolutionary adaptations which have made us arguably the most innovative species on earth. From that initial step it is evident that hominid species did not stay put. They travelled thousands of miles and experienced vastly diverse climatic variations in the course of their travels. They reached an extremely cold Europe, and faced an even more critical need for thermal regulation than their ancestors on the savannah.

The varying climatic and environmental conditions experienced by ancient and modern humans as they reached northern latitudes not only potentially affected their viability throughout their entire life cycle, it may have inspired alternative modes of adaptation to survive. However, though beneficial in many respects, these adaptations also potentially introduced a broader spectrum of pathologies which directly impinge on the health of the young and vulnerable.

This paper reflects on the requisite needs of a particular group of Upper Palaeolithic humans from a theoretical and archaeological perspective. These are birthing women and their infants. This aspect of human negotiation is not central to archaeological research. The concept that active control and negotiation of the birth process may have occurred during the course of human evolution is of recent origin. That such negotiation could be reflected in material evidence as early as the Upper Palaeolithic has rarely been incorporated in archaeological discourse, or in the interpretation of material evidence. This omission may be due to the perspective that as the process of birth is ostensibly organic; evidence relating to its negotiation does not exist.

However, with regard to hominid dispersal to colder climates thermal regulation becomes a critical factor for a significant duration in maintaining the health of birthing woman and newborn infants (for reasons I will outline in this paper). It may also be central to situating birthing women in a defined spatial location, potentially rendering them visible from an archaeological perspective.

The Upper Palaeolithic period of south western Europe is considered from this perspective as it is in this region that cultural complexity becomes evident from at least 30,000 years ago. Though Neanderthal and modern human groups shared this area for a significant period of time, the cultural complexity evidenced from moderns’ allows for a more detailed overview of potential adaptations regarding birth. As this paper is theoretically based, the methodology, though outlined, is still being refined.

The increase of modern human populations during the Upper Palaeolithic indicates (among other factors) that women gave birth successfully and consistently throughout this period and ensured the viability of their newborn infants. Though demographic success may have resulted from a number of factors; successful birthing and postnatal care of newborn infants compensated more than adequately for deaths due to age, illness or injury, thus ensuring the continuation and expansion of modern humans. Surviving evidence suggests that the Neanderthal groups, as a distinct and separate population no longer exist. However, it is also evident that they occupied parts of modern day Europe for approximately 200,000 years and survived significant and intense climatic fluctuations during this time. The duration of their existence and the success with which modern humans adapted to the environment with demographic success suggests, some form of behavioural adaptation in the manner in which both groups prepared for birth.

Nonetheless, when comparing and contrasting material evidence related to Neanderthal and modern groups, it is clear that difference exists, most particularly in the realm we define as culture. Human to human communication was maximised and symbolised in modern groups, while in Neanderthal groups the evidence remaining does not indicate cultural complexity. Coincidentally (or not), symbolic expression first appears during a climatic downturn. It also peaks during a subsequent cold spell. These climatic conditions may have necessitated increased inter-group communication to ensure survival. Such conditions may also have precipitated new forms of action and innovation within human groups to ensure their own survival. These conditions also potentially affect, in a critical manner, birthing women, and their newborn infants.

In a prehistoric context, demographic constraints are not solely based on successful parturition. Differential fertility, nutritional factors, disease, and conflict are among the factors which directly impinge on group viability. However, the ramifications of obstetric problems are also potentially significant factors in the maintenance of any group system. Death in the negotiation of birth is not instantaneous. It may be painful and protracted, and extremely difficult to bear witness to. For example, an obstetric complication such as placenta praevia can occur (where placenta obstructs the opening of the birth canal). This causes extensive haemorrhaging which is fatal to woman and infant. If the pelvis is proportionately small in comparison to the foetal skull dimensions, the result can be fatal. If the birthing woman is inadequately nourished it may negatively affect her ability to birth successfully. If portions of the placenta are retained, sepsis may occur which can prove fatal. Injury or illness during the course of pregnancy may also result in an obstetric dilemma. Unhygienic conditions during the postpartum period can result in puerperal fever, which is potentially lethal. Adverse temperatures can directly and pathologically affect newborn infants.

If we allow Upper Palaeolithic groups the same range of emotions that we are capable of, the ramifications of even one such death in a season may have had far reaching consequences. In this Upper Palaeolithic context, the loss of a woman in the negotiation of birth also represents the loss of a contributive group member. Such loss may also jeopardise the future of any previous children she may have had. Those who may have had some emotional attachment to the woman will also be affected. The manner in which she died may have an immediate effect on other women within the group, whether they had birthed or not. Confronted with the reality of what can go wrong, and the potentially extensive and protracted pain involved prior to death, the process of birth could have embodied significant meaning for women in this context. It may also have inspired them to employ mechanisms to ensure the best possible outcome in the face of this uncertain life event. Relethford notes that ‘reproductive behaviours are associated with learning, intelligence, and adaptive social behaviours’. Negotiating this life event is, doubtless, a strong motivation to adapt, adopt, and create mechanisms that maximise the potential for a successful outcome.

This is the case in technologically advanced contemporary systems as, even with vast developments in obstetric and surgical techniques; the element of uncertainty inherent in the birthing process continues to remain a recognised part of its dynamics. Within these systems preparation for birthing involves a considerable amount of pre and post-natal care. These mechanisms also exist in historial and traditional systems. Such extensive attention realistically provides the optimum base from which to negotiate an uncertain event. Moreover, their duration is extremely significant. Such rites are not purely confined to the hours or days of the actual birth process. They span virtually a year in the life of a pregnant and birthing woman. Attention to pre and post-natal needs are consistently reflected in rites, taboos, symbolic structures, and material culture in various levels throughout the world. In this manner the pregnant body is inscribed with meaning and such meaning is recognised by the group of which she is part.

In addition to this, when traditional, historical and contemporary medicalised birthing systems are examined from a physiological and psychological perspective, a pattern of criteria begins to appear. Often enmeshed in socio-cultural rites and beliefs, which form part of their negotiation, they embody real and significant physiological, and psychological benefits. They are also reflected in material evidence surrounding the birth process. On closer examination, a number of these criteria are so solidly locked in place that, though fractured during the transferral of birthing systems from home to hospital, medical systems are returning to them. This is because no comparable alternatives, however carefully structured, are even closely adequate. If these criteria can be clearly defined to provide a testable ‘framework,’ it may be possible to reflect on the negotiation of birth from an Upper Palaeolithic context.

Based on interdisciplinary research, on various aspects of parturition, I found that the following criteria are attended to with considerable regularity to maximise the potential for a successful outcome during birth. Emphasis on one, or another, rests predominantly on cultural or social mores, and sometimes on climatic conditions. Exceptions are rare. They are adopted and adapted to incorporate:
1. Thermal regulation to ensure the viability of the newborn infant.
2. A defined spatial location.
3. Support and companionship.
4. Mobility in order for the birthing woman to negotiate the process.
5. Attention to the pre and post-natal environment.
6. Ritual and symbolism in the psychological negotiation of the process.

Discussion

This concept of a place apart during the negotiation of birth touches on an alternative interpretation of a proportion of Upper Palaeolithic symbolism. It is clear that interpretations of Upper Palaeolithic symbolic motifs are many and varied. It is also accepted that the placing of motifs and representations is deliberate and premeditated. The negotiation of a potentially hazardous life-event such as birthing could be incorporated within these interpretations, particularly if these symbolic structures occur within a spatial area that fulfils the other criteria of a birthing locale.

Current theories of corporeality perceive the body and mind as an integrated and highly complex unit enmeshed with socio/cultural influences. They argue that there can be no clear cut definition separating mind from body, particularly from the sexed body. Though from birth we are consistently influenced by numerous and diverse influences, these influences must first navigate our sexed bodies and our intimate perceptions of ourselves. We are motivated in part by our physiological needs. For example, the physiological need for food motivated the desire to hunt, gather and create technologies to facilitate this. The physiological need for warmth, particularly in an ice age climate, is a strong motivator to seek or construct shelters. The physiological need for a constant supply of drinking water may have been a primary factor in choosing the location of these shelters. Over time the maintenance of these needs has become heavily socially and culturally inscribed as they are intellectually negotiated.

Though pregnancy and birth appear as physiological processes, their negotiation also involves similar intellectual energy. It is another factor in the motivation of human adaptation and in the construction and evolution of technologies and cultural systems. The use of a place apart in the negotiation of birth is a physiological and psychological necessity of the birth process and, when its significance is appreciated and recognised, this place apart can provide a locus from which to examine female corporeal, ritual, and symbolic strategies. For example, the fundamental human propensity to express meaning and connection evident in symbolic structures is generally accepted. As the negotiation of birth is a recognised life event that embodies an element of the unknown, the quest for meaning and connection in its psychological negotiation may be greatly amplified. The creation and maintenance of symbols may have served to reduce anxiety, fulfil the expectation of relief or provide some anticipation of success, all significant aspects of the negotiation of birth. The inherent element of uncertainty in birthing is a strong motivator to anticipating this event and preparing for it long in advance.

This paper attempts to provide a preliminary methodology for the examination of archaeological sites from the perspective of birthing needs. Though further refinement is doubtless needed, theoretical consideration of this vital aspect of human negotiation is extremely relevant to archaeological research. Without consistent and continuous success in the negotiation of birth, all other aspects of human negotiation are indeed moot. Serious consideration of the negotiation of pregnancy and birth from an evolutionary context could also provide further indications of behavioural development.

From an Upper Palaeolithic context further research may potentially reflect alternative aspects of human innovation and adaptation in what is regarded as a culturally complex group system. From either perspective, the negotiation of birth should be considered with the same rigour and attention given to other aspects of human negotiation, for example, the transition from puberty to adulthood. This life event (that could be viewed as a purely biological transition) is also referred to in the interpretation of Upper Palaeolithic material evidence. Cross-cultural rites related to this negotiation are studied in detail and reflected on from an Upper Palaeolithic perspective, despite the fact that no ‘organic’ evidence of this transitory life event exists. Nonetheless, symbols, technologies and artefacts are ascribed meaning related to this negotiation based on its perceived and accepted significance to the maintenance of group systems.

I suggest that a life altering, intense and possibly life threatening negotiation such as birth can also be equally reflected in the spatial, symbolic and material remains of the distant past, if we accept this possibility.