Editing Infanticide (section)

===Paleolithic and Neolithic===
Many Neolithic groups routinely resorted to infanticide in order to control their numbers so that their lands could support them. [[Joseph Birdsell]] believed that infanticide rates in [[prehistory|prehistoric times]] were between 15% and 50% of the total number of births,<ref>{{Cite book | last1= Birdsell| first1=Joseph B.| chapter=Some predictions for the Pleistocene based on equilibrium systems among recent hunter gatherers| editor-last1= Lee| editor-first1 = Richard |editor-first2=Irven|editor-last2=DeVore| title = Man the Hunter| page = 239| publisher =Aldine Publishing Co.|location=New York| year = 1986}}</ref> while Laila Williamson estimated a lower rate ranging from 15% to 20%.<ref name="InfAnAn"/>{{rp|66}} Both [[anthropologist]]s believed that these high rates of infanticide persisted until the development of agriculture during the [[Neolithic Revolution]].<ref name="Hardness" />{{rp|19}} A book published in 1981 stated that comparative anthropologists estimated that 50% of female newborn babies may have been killed by their parents during the [[Paleolithic]] era.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Hoffer|first1 = Peter|last2=Hull|first2=N.E.H.|title=Murdering Mothers: Infanticide in England and America, 1558–1803| publisher = New York University Press|year = 1981|location = New York|page = 3}}</ref> The anthropologist [[Raymond Dart]] has interpreted fractures on the skulls of [[hominid]] infants (e.g. the [[Taung Child]]) as due to deliberate killing followed by [[human cannibalism|cannibalism]], but such explanations are by now considered uncertain and possibly wrong.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Simons| first = Elwyn L.| title = Human origins| journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume = 245| issue = 4924| page = 1344 | year = 1989| doi = 10.1126/science.2506640| pmid = 2506640 | bibcode = 1989Sci...245.1343S| s2cid = 38430465}}</ref> Children were not necessarily actively killed, but neglect and intentional malnourishment may also have occurred, as proposed by Vicente Lull as an explanation for an apparent surplus of men and the below average height of women in prehistoric [[Menorca]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lull |first1=Vicente |last2=Mico |first2=R. |last3=Rihuete |first3=C. |last4=Risch |first4=R. |title=Peinando la Muerte: Rituales de vida y muerte en la prehistoria de menorca |location=Barcelona |publisher=Museo Arqueológico de Alicante |year=2006 |url=https://www.marqalicante.com/Publicaciones/es/PEINANDO-LA-MUERTE-RITUALES-DE-VIDA-Y-MUERTE-EN-LA-PREHISTORIA-DE-MENORCA-P21.html |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=11 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111073025/https://www.marqalicante.com/Publicaciones/es/PEINANDO-LA-MUERTE-RITUALES-DE-VIDA-Y-MUERTE-EN-LA-PREHISTORIA-DE-MENORCA-P21.html |url-status=live }}</ref>