#maternal-care

#maternal-care

The first heavy rain of the winter season arrived not as a blessing, but as a new catastrophe for Samar al-Salmi and her family. Early in the morning, torrents of water crashed through their worn-out tent in a displacement camp, jolting them awake as the ground beneath them turned into a muddy pool. All around them, displaced people scrambled to repair what the rain had destroyed, filling waterlogged holes with sand and lifting drenched mattresses into the weak winter sun.

By extracting ancient DNA and analyzing stable isotopes from the infant's ribs, the researchers confirmed both his sex and that he was actively being breastfed before death, evidence pointing to postnatal care.