Roman tombstone commemorating a boy miner
Hard living conditions and poverty often force minors to work. It was no different in ancient Rome, where it was not uncommon to see a small child working physically.
This is evidenced by the preserved tombstones showing the images of children. For example, there is a monument to a four-year-old boy named Quartulus, shown with a basket and a pickaxe. The boy worked in the mine, and the monument was probably erected by his colleagues. Object found in Jaén in Spain; now it is in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.
What’s more, in the area of the former Roman Empire, researchers found numerous children’s skeletons with traces of physical exertion on their bones and joints. For example, a cemetery was discovered near Rome, where children were buried, whose remains showed that they could work in fulling factories and knead fabrics in the wash.
- Beard Mary, SPQR. Historia starożytnego Rzymu, Poznań 2016
