Space to play: identifying children's sites in the Pleistocene archaeological record

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.

Keywords

• Childhood
• adolescence
• Palaeolithic
• children's places
• secret spaces