do you have any sources for infanticide?

was infant mortality higher for hunter-gatherers compared to Neolithic or even medieval times?

some information from a quick search (i’m not an archeologist. I was just very interested in Neolithic period at some time 🤷

After the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle with a more steady supply of high-calorie foodstuff ensured by agriculture and animal husbandry, the birth rate increased and demographics changed. Better nutrition and reduced female mobility led to shorter intervals between births, and ultimately to a significant growth of the Neolithic population. This ‘baby boom’ is also known as the Neolithic Demographic Transition. Whether a shortened period of lactation is also a factor in this development, is currently under investigation in a project led by Sofija Stefanović from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. The availability of suitable weaning foods such as cereal grains might have enabled to wean babies earlier, which led to a quicker return of mothers’ fertility.

In the typical pattern of Neolithic societies, siblings are now born in quicker succession, leaving only two to three years between births. Farming communities are known for having many children – not only because they can be supported nutritionally, but also because their labour is needed for the plentiful work in the fields. The physical toll of childbirth probably increases for the mothers, and their social position may change significantly. If they no longer go out on gathering trips as much and remain close to home, presumably with other women in the same situation, confinement and control can be one consequence.

Human hunter-gatherers, for example the Gainj of highland Papua New Guinea, have an average of 43 months between births. Pennington (2001) calculated 39 months for hunter-gatherers, taking the mean of four non sedentary populations. Three and a half to four years between children seems normal for prehistoric people before the Neolithic, i.e. the adoption of agriculture, animal husbandry and a sedentary lifestyle.

How is this child spacing achieved? Mothers breastfeed their babies for at least the first two years of life, and unrestricted breastfeeding suppresses ovulation, preventing further pregnancies. How exactly this mechanism works is still under debate – and do not try this at home: it has been shown that in well-fed, western civilisations with a limited nursing culture breastfeeding alone is not a reliable method of birth control. The continuous, around-the-clock suckling of infants produces hormones in the mother that suppress ovulation, but the energy balance of a lactating woman may also have something to do with it (Thompson 2013).

https://motherhoodinprehistory.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/prehistoric-child-spacing/