Abstract
Identifying the residues of children's activities in deep time contexts is essential if we are to build a comprehensive understanding of human cognitive and cultural development. Despite the importance of such data to human evolution studies, however, archaeologists have only recently begun to look for prehistoric children's material culture, and the identification of children's spaces is completely absent for deep time contexts. This paper draws together sociological and historical data regarding the universal need of Homo sapiens children for 'secret' places - places away from parental control. These spaces are important for the behavioural development of children and are universal in modern contexts. This paper demonstrates that these features can be identified in prehistoric archaeological records - and as such - researchers will have new datasets with which to interrogate the role of children in the development of their respective societies.
Highlights
Unravelling and understanding the processes behind behavioural evolution, cultural development and technological innovation has always been central to archaeological research
It is recognised that, because children use secret places, this behaviour should produce successive episodes of child activity at a specific location creating a concentration of material items and that ‘these spaces should have a high degree of occurrence in archaeological sites and should be recognisable in the archaeological record’ (Baxter, 2005b, p. 72)
The presence of solid evidence for child actors contributing to the creation of the Étiolles record – and the two discrete features of G13 and J18 in particular – provides an opportunity to ask the question: are these archaeological residues more than just locations where apprentice flintknappers practised? Could they represent children’s playhouses/secret spaces? In order to explore this idea, I will compare the reported archaeological record with the eight characteristics of child-built secret spaces outlined above
Summary
Unravelling and understanding the processes behind behavioural evolution, cultural development and technological innovation has always been central to archaeological research. From 8 to 11, he reports that this pattern changes, with girls becoming more focused on working on the interior details of their playhouse, while boys concentrated more on building complex structures with walls and roofs Another factor that he noticed was that the bringing of food to the secret place was important to the children – that it ‘consecrates the specialness of the place’ It is recognised that, because children use secret places, this behaviour should produce successive episodes of child activity at a specific location creating a concentration of material items and that ‘these spaces should have a high degree of occurrence in archaeological sites and should be recognisable in the archaeological record’ The presence of solid evidence for child actors contributing to the creation of the Étiolles record – and the two discrete features of G13 and J18 in particular – provides an opportunity to ask the question: are these archaeological residues more than just locations where apprentice flintknappers practised? Could they represent children’s playhouses/secret spaces? In order to explore this idea, I will compare the reported archaeological record with the eight characteristics of child-built secret spaces outlined above
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
