Growing into gender: Funerary practice of boys and girls in the Bronze Age Maros culture (2100 - 1700 BC).

This study investigates the relationship between biological sex and gendered funerary practices among children of the Bronze Age Maros culture in northern Serbia. Biological sex was determined for 77 non adult individuals (< 18-22 years), for 76 of them using peptide based sex identification from dental enamel, and for one individual previously published aDNA results were used (Žegarac et al. 2021). The results were compared with each individual's body orientation and position, key elements of the Maros funerary norm known to reflect binary gender differentiation among adults. Statistical analyses revealed a strong association between peptide-determined biological sex and side of the body position, as well as a correlation between biological sex and body orientation. At Mokrin, biological sex was strongly associated with orientation of the body and moderately associated with body position. At Ostojićevo, the relationship was even stronger, but in a smaller sample. These findings confirm that boys were buried according to the male (north-south orientation, positioned on their left side) and girls according to the female norm (south-north orientation, positioned on their right side), mirroring the adult burials. The consistency of these practices demonstrates that binary gender identity was socially recognized from early childhood within Maros society. Occasional deviations, representing fewer than 10% of cases, may reflect errors in documenting body orientation and position, biological sex estimation, or socially meaningful exceptions. Overall, the obtained results highlight the expression of binary gender division from the youngest age, providing one of the most comprehensive datasets for non-adult individuals. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-026-02578-3.