Where Are the Children?

Abstract

Abstract From the principle that children must have formed a significant percentage of the population in the Palaeolithic societies, it can be deduced that a large part of the archaeological remains should concern them. However, few prehistorians were interested in them, perhaps because they considered that their presence was not perceptible, except in a funerary context, or, quite simply, because their contribution to the life of the group was negligible. The author offers here a review of archaeological evidence attesting to the presence of children in the decorated caves and settlements. Taken together, these clues give an idea of the place of children in the hunter-gatherer societies of the Upper European Palaeolithic and their activities—learning how to knap flint, possibly participating in the decoration of caves, games, and toys—as well as the treatment they received in death.