Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Baxter, Editor
Contributions by
ISSN 1551-823X
2005
Archeological Papers of the
American Anthropological Association, Number 15
Contributions by
Jane Eva Baxter
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
Kathryn A. Kamp
Kathryn Keith
Robert W. Park
Megan A. Perry
Helen B. Schwartzman
Patricia E. Smith
Kelly Thomas
2005
Archeological Papers of the
American Anthropological Association, Number 15
iii
iii
Introduction
The Archaeology of Childhood in Context
Jane Eva Baxter
DePaul University
ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter contextualizes the volume contents within broader themes and histories in the archaeological and anthropological study of childhood. Some of these broader issues include how archaeologists have situated
childhood studies within the discipline, how archaeologists have identified children through the archaeological record,
and how the archaeological study of childhood leads to interdisciplinary conversations across the subfields.
Keywords: children, childhood, history, methods, interdisciplinary study
n 1989, Grete Lillehammer wrote what many would consider to be the first work in what is now an ever-growing
body of literature devoted to the archaeology of childhood.
This seminal article defined the childs world as childrens
relationships with the environment, with adults, and with
one another, and it pointed out that archaeology had made
only limited contributions toward understanding the childs
world (Lillehammer 1989:90).
Twelve years later in her review article presenting different avenues of inquiry in the archaeological study of childhood, Kathryn Kamp (2001) asked the question, Where
have all the children gone? Literature on the archaeology of
childhood had grown substantially in those intervening years
and has continued to grow to include works that develop approaches and rationales for the archaeology of childhood,
as well as studies of children in the archaeological record
(e.g., Baxter 2000, 2005; Kamp 2002; Moore and Scott 1997;
Park 1998; Sofaer Derevenski 2000; Sofaer Derevenski, ed.
1994). The title of Kamps (2001) article, however, indicates
that archaeologists are still a long way from regularly integrating the childs world into our interpretations of the past.
The literature on the archaeology of childhood consistently critiques the disciplines traditional treatment of
children in archaeological interpretations. The most obvious critique is the tendency of archaeologists to ignore children completely, despite the fact that individuals defined as
children were undoubtedly present in most prehistoric and
C 2006 by the American AnthroArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 19, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
pological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
dren in mortuary contexts that was often assumed by archaeologists. The simple equation of a biologically subadult
skeleton to a culturally defined stage such as childhood is,
in fact, loaded with complex assumptions and problems
(Baxter 2005; Kamp 2001; Perry, this volume). The
presumed visibility of children in mortuary populations
(Whittlesey 2002) has become less clear and calls into
question many traditional approaches to studying children
archaeologically.
Looking for children in the archaeological record requires a different type of awareness about the nature of childhood, including both the diverse possibilities of what a child
can be and the unique physical and cognitive abilities of children. Such an outlook requires attentiveness to the variation
of documented childhood experiences that might serve as
useful analogs for a particular archaeological case. Simultaneously, such a perspective requires the knowledge of how
childrens experiences are shaped by the patterns in cognitive
and motor development that characterize human ontogeny.
Several studies, including some in this volume, incorporate
such perspectives and demonstrate that children are identifiable archaeologically, specifically in nonmortuary contexts.
The chapter in this volume by Perry, which does take a bioarchaeological approach toward the archaeology of children,
refocuses the mortuary analysis of subadult skeletons toward an understanding of childrens lives rather than toward
seeing them as variables in demographic and social analyses
of mortuary populations.
The archaeology of childhood, therefore, does not necessarily require new methodological approaches to the archaeological record but rather demands alternative ways of
understanding how people of different ages and age groups
lived in the past. This is reflected in current research in the
archaeology of children and childhood. These studies may
be aptly characterized by the diversity in approaches that
have been implemented to successfully identify and study
children through the archaeological record. These studies indicate that the presence of children in the past is reflected in
a variety of types of archaeological evidence and not merely
a few child-specific artifacts. The chapters in this volume
expand upon existing approaches to the study of children
and also offer new ways of making children visible in the
archaeological record.
Archaeological studies of children and childhood, not
unlike other foci of archaeological inquiry, are heavily
couched in contextual information, whether historical, ethnohistoric, or ethnographic. This contextual information is
an essential component in the exploration of the culturally
constructed nature of childhood. The very basic question of
which individuals were considered to be children (or infants
or toddlers or adolescents or other categories of personhood)
as well as how the roles and expectations of those categories
our imagination of what it means to be a child and the important contributions children can and do make in human
communities.
There are cultures that treat children as miniature adults
and try to minimize rather than emphasize differences between older and younger members of their communities
(Keith, this volume; Mintz 2004). Even within such cultural
constructions there exist several biological factors that have
a profound impact on how physically immature humans interact with the world around them. Most adults, including
those who work as archaeologists, do not recall how they
experienced the world as a child. Therefore, archaeologists
studying childhood need to employ information from other
fields such as developmental psychology, pediatrics, biology,
and urban planning to understand childrens perceptions and
interactions with the world around them.
The archaeology of childhood, therefore, requires researchers to take a different perspective toward the archaeological record in order to search for the childs world. Each of
the contributions to this volume is an example of this need,
as each reaches outside of the discipline of archaeology to
construct an appropriate vantage point to study the remains
of children in the archaeological record. It is an important aspect of this volume that all essays rely on ethnographic and/or
historical data regardless of the specific approach taken toward the material record. Each chapter also uses data, theory,
or methods from at least one additional discipline. Clearly,
studying children archaeologically is an inherently interdisciplinary endeavor.
Each contribution to this volume uses the intersection of
cultural constructions of children and the biological and psychological stages of human development to study children
archaeologically. The topic of childhood is one that straddles
the traditional dualism of nature and nurture, and each essay
in this volume creates a unique balance in its treatment of
the ontological and the cultural. These contributions illustrate that one cannot propose to study children as tabulae
rasae on which infinitely diverse meanings can be inscribed,
but neither can one view children simply as beings at a particular stage in the human life cycle (Midgley 1995:34;
Sofaer Derevenski 2000). These essays demonstrate that it
is essential to approach this intersection of biology and culture with a consideration that physique and meaning grow
simultaneouslyan evolved body developing in an historical context (Robertson 1996:598599).
The intersection of biology and culture and the interdisciplinary nature of inquiry in this volume point to
a place where archaeology may have important conversations with other subfields in the discipline of anthropology (Schwartzman 2001). Linguistic anthropology (e.g.,
Schieffelin 1990; Schieffelin and Ochs 1986) and
Baker, Mary
1997 Invisibility as a Symptom of Gender Categories
in Archaeology. In Invisible People and Processes:
Writing Gender and Childhood into European Archaeology. J. Moore and E. Scott, eds. Pp. 183191.
London: Leicester University Press.
This volume is an important contribution to the growing body of literature on the archaeology of childhood. Each
essay in this volume builds on existing theoretical literature
to create new approaches to identifying children in the ar-
ing Gender and Childhood into European Archaeology. J. Moore and E. Scott, eds. Pp. 203212.
London: Leicester University Press.
Ginsberg, Faye, and Rayna Rapp
1995 Conceiving the New World Order: The Cultural
Politics of Reproduction. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Goodman, Alan, and George Armelagos
1989 Infant and Childhood Morbidity and Mortality
Risks in Archaeological Populations. World Archaeology 21(2):225243.
Goodman, A., J. Lallo, G. Armelagos, and J. Rose
1984 Health Changes at Dickson Mounds, Illinois (AD
9501300). In Paleopathology at the Origins of
Agriculture. M. Cohen and G. Armelagos, eds. Pp.
271305. Orlando: Academic Press.
Goodman, A., D. Martin, G. Armelagos, and G. Clarke
1984 Indications of Stress from Bones and Teeth. In Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. M. Cohen and G. Armelagos, eds. Pp. 1349. Orlando:
Academic Press.
Greenfield, Patricia
2000 Children, Material Culture and Weaving: Historical
Change and Developmental Change. In Children
and Material Culture. J. Sofaer Derevenski, ed. Pp.
7286. New York: Routledge.
Grimm, Linda
2000 Apprentice Flintknapping: Relating Material Culture and Social Practice in the Upper Paleolithic. In
Children and Material Culture. J. Sofaer Derevenski, ed. Pp. 5371. New York: Routledge.
Hawcroft, Jennie, and Robin Dennell
2000 Neanderthal Cognitive Life History and Its Implications for Material Culture. In Children and Material Culture. J. Sofaer Derevenski, ed. Pp. 8999.
New York: Routledge.
Hayden, Brian, and Aubry Cannon
1984 Interaction Inference in Archaeology and Learning
Frameworks of the Maya. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 3(4):325367.
Hirschfeld, L.
2002 Why Dont Anthropologists Like Children? American Anthropologist 104:611627.
Kamp, Kathryn
2001 Where Have All the Children Gone? The Archaeology of Childhood. Journal of Archaeological
Method and Theory 8(1):134.
Kamp, Kathryn, ed.
2002 Children in the Prehistoric Puebloan Southwest.
Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Kamp, Kathryn, Nichole Timmerman, Gregg Lind, Jules
Greybill, and Ian Natowsky
1999 Discovering Childhood: Using Fingerprints to Find
Children in the Archaeological Record. American
Antiquity 64(2):309315.
Kelly, Robert L.
1995 The Foraging Spectrum: Diversity in HunterGatherer Lifeways. Washington, DC: Smithsonian
Institution Press.
Lillehammer, Grete
1989 A Child Is Born: The Childs World in an Archaeological Perspective. Norwegian Archaeological Review 22(2):89105.
2000 The World of Children. In Children and Material
Culture. J. Sofaer Derevenski, ed. Pp. 1726. London: Routledge.
Midgley, M.
1995 Beast and Man: The Roots of Human Nature. Rev.
edition. London: Routledge.
Mintz, Steven
2004 Hucks Raft: A History of American Childhood.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Moore, Jenny, and Eleanor Scott, eds.
1997 Invisible People and Processes: Writing Gender and
Childhood into European Archaeology. London:
Leicester University Press.
Nelson, Sarah M.
1997 Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Nieuwenhuys, Olga
1996 The Paradox of Child Labor and Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 25:237
251.
Park, Robert
1998 Size Counts: The Miniature Archaeology of
1
Constructing an Archaeology of Children:
Studying Children and Child Material Culture
from the African Past
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
George Washington University
ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the implications of an archaeology that includes studies of children and their material
environment. Focusing on examples of African populations, it offers models that contribute to theories about child
behavior. The construction of an archaeology of children is feasible and important for furthering our understanding
of the past. Through ethnoarchaeological approaches, we have the opportunity to begin a discourse on children and
to set a foundation for future studies on what the children left behind.
Keywords: ethnoarchaeology, subsistence strategies, Africa
rchaeologists have long neglected children in their studies of the past, and the implications of such neglect
have been well documented in recent literature on the archaeology of childhood (Baxter, introduction, this volume;
Kamp 2001). Redressing such limitations in archaeological
interpretations has linked the archaeology of childhood to
broader discussions of agency and identity in the archaeological record (Kamp, this volume).
This perspective aligns the archaeology of childhood
to a long history of archaeologists demanding that greater
attention be paid to populations underrepresented in
archaeological and historical research (Deagan 1991; Deetz
1996; Lightfoot 1995; Schmidt and Patterson 1995). Deetz
claimed: Archaeologys prime value to history lies in its
promise to take into account large numbers of people in
the past who either were not included in the written record
or, if they were, were included in a biased or minimal way
(Deetz 1993:12).
Research from similar perspectives includes inquiries
into the lives of slaves (Ferguson 1991, 1992; Singleton
1985), maroons (Agorsah 1993; Weik 2002), women
(Conkey and Gero 1991; Wylie 1991), people subjected to
relationships of inequality (McGuire and Paynter 1991), and
C 2006 by the American AnthroArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 1326, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
pological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
14
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
allow adults to devote their energies to other activities. Research in a sample of Javanese villages showed that 12- to
14-year-old boys on average contribute 33 hours of valuable labor per week while 9- to 11-year-old girls contribute
38 hours (Harris 1993:226). According to Harris (1993), Javanese children altogether provide approximately half of all
work performed by household members. Moni Nag et al.
(1978) and Benjamin White (1982) have noted similar contributions from Nepalese children.
Children in many countries often make handicrafts, engage in trade, and process foods for themselves as well as
for sale. Some also perform the tasks needed to care for
themselves as well as their siblings. These contributions free
mothers and fathers for more income-producing tasks or ensure that only a small amount of time is needed to maintain
the welfare of their children (Harris 1993:227).
Alison Wylie (1991) pointed out that one of the biases challenging feminist archaeologists is that the roles
and statuses of women are archaeologically inaccessible.
Similarly, biases that disregard these ethnographically documented contributions of children result in a dismissal of
questions and interpretations that highlight child activity in
the past. For example, there are documented instances in
which children used adult material culture to create peculiar associations and deposits (Bonnichsen 1973; Hammond
and Hammond 1981; Wilk and Schiffer 1979). Some archaeologists (Baxter, Chapter 6, this volume; Deal 1985; Hayden
and Cannon 1983; Watson 1979) notice that child play results in a disturbance of the adult landscape, enlargements
of adult artifact scatters, and the transportation of adult
artifacts from one area to another. An archaeology that does
not recognize the potential presence of children could erase
actual traces of children from archaeological interpretations
by focusing solely on the adult artifacts in the assemblage.
An example of an archaeology that is inclusive of the
possibility of children can be seen in an interpretation offered
from a Virginia plantation. In the archaeological record at
this site, Jim Deetz (1993) found spoons that were oddly
bent at the handle. Unable to explain their meaning, he set
them aside until he realized that their existence could be attributed to child behavior. Children may have bent the spoons
while using them as digging tools or play items. Such artifacts demonstrate an archaeological form that is associated
with the behavior of children from the past and with how
children learn to interact with their environment apart from
adults. This example illustrates how a consideration of child
behavior can influence archaeological interpretation.
15
16
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
As a result of the limited amount of archaeological attention placed on childhood, few one-to-one archaeological
correlates of child behavior can be currently distinguished
apart from those associated with adult behavior. Ethnoarchaeological approaches are thus necessary for the construction of an archaeology of children. Using these approaches,
we can locate present-day areas of child activity and note
their associated material patterns on the landscape. We can
also establish a pattern that links child behavior with current environmental conditions, dietary patterns, subsistence
practices, settlement occupation, spatial organization within
communities, ritual areas, and patterns of discard.
An ethnoarchaeological approach to these variables has
been used to create analogues within interpretations of the
past, which are employed to interpret archaeological remains. An analysis of these relationships coupled with specific ethnographic models should allow us to make inferences about the past behavior of children. These inferences
in turn can be tested through new reformulated hypotheses.
This reasoning involves a series of linking principles that, as
Alison Wylie (1991:33) argues, are needed in order to use
archaeological data to understand sociocultural phenomena.
In general, almost all archaeological interpretations involve
linking principles. Wylie claims that without these theoretical tools, archaeology would be confined to the descriptive
phase and questions of sociocultural dynamics would not be
addressed. If we are going to address new and different topics
and thus expand the discipline of archaeology, archaeologists
must start asking questions related to children. The next step
in developing an archaeology of children is to extract information from existing ethnographies, while still recognizing
17
18
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
ods in which adults were not directly imposing or transferring culture to children. Children were learning from each
other and from their interaction with the environment. These
ethnographies demonstrated the social roles of children as
contributors to culture.
The San and Their Children
Although we can see much variation in the ways that
San children interacted within their community, we know
that like the children of the Hadza, many San children have
often foraged alone, created their own space, and made their
own material culture. In early ethnographies of San societies, Fourie (1960) pointed out that once children were old
enough they took care of themselves without adult supervision. While infants and young children frequently accompanied their mothers on foraging trips, older children learned
from their peers and various appointed elders.
Many also went on gathering and hunting expeditions
with other children (Schapera 1930). Boys usually practiced
shooting from the time they began to walk (Doke 1937;
Marshall 1976). To hunt small birds and reptiles, they made
diminutive bows and arrows until they reached approximately 8 to 12 years old. At that age, they often received
full-sized weapons to hunt larger game (Schapera 1930). On
occasion, they also joined their fathers on adult hunting trips
(Marshall 1976). Girls, however, were allowed to gather at
the age of 9 or 10. Labor contributions were typically divided along gender lines and were dependant on environmental conditions, yet most children over the age of eight
contributed to the dietary requirements of their community
by cracking their own rations of mongongo nuts (Lee 1979).
From these early ethnographies of San children, we
learn that children of foraging societies regularly take on
specific tasks that separate their daily routines from those
of adults. We can see that there are differences between the
material culture of these children and that of their adult counterparts (e.g., the diminutive bows and arrows). These issues
are significant because although some of these insights seem
to be universal characteristics of childhood, as seen in the
following examples, other characteristics demonstrate the
wide variability of child behavior.
More on San Children: Children of the Ju/hoansi
Although most Ju/hoansi peoples, formerly known as
the !Kung, no longer pursue full-time hunting and gathering (Draper and Kranichfeld 1990), in the past, nomadic
Ju/hoansi differed in many ways from the more sedentary
Ju/hoansi (Barnard 1992; Draper 1975, 1976; Draper and
Cashdan 1988). In comparison with children from more nomadic bands, children raised in a sedentary environment usually did more work and were a regular part of the labor pool.
They often traveled farther from their homes and interacted
more with those of similar sex and age and less with opposite sexes or with those not in their age-set (Draper and
Kranichfeld 1990). Among the sedentary Ju/hoansi, adults
on average spent less time with their children in comparison
with the time spent by adults of nomadic groups. In addition,
interaction between Ju/hoansi children themselves tended
to be less in care-taking and more in peer-group activities
(Barnard 1992; Draper 1975, 1976; Draper and Cashdan
1988).
Lorna Marshall (1976) observed that although the
Ju/hoansi children of Nyae Nyae gathered wild plants, they
did so spontaneously and sporadically. They seldom foraged
when they accompanied adults on gathering excursions, yet
they learned to recognize most of the edible plants (Blurton
Jones et al. 1994b).
Few opportunities arose for children to work as much
as Hadza children (Blurton Jones et al. 1994a, 1994b), thus
Ju/hoansi children frequently spent much of their time playing. Play was just as important as work for the maintenance
of their society. Through play, children responded to their
environment by imitating each other. They also forged relationships that enabled them to collaborate as adults and
thus to maximize their labor efforts when they started to
leave the camp on hunting excursions. Marshall (1976) observed that in the Ju/hoansi encampments of 1952 to 1953,
children played in the cleared areas of the dance circles,
around water holes, near the edges of the pan, and close to
baobab trees. Ju/hoansi children of all ages never went far
from the encampment.
Patricia Draper (1975) points out that among the /Du/da
(the most isolated group among the Ju/hoansi) the average
number of children per band was five girls and seven boys
ranging in age from infancy to 14 years old. Within this
group, children were limited in the availability of age mates
and consequently limited in the various relationships they
formed. Band size and mobility patterns (recoverable variables in the archaeological record) may have had determining
influences on child behavior.
The archaeological record allows us to determine band
or settlement size, environmental conditions, and subsistence patterns, thus allowing us to draw generalizations about
the structures of age-mate classes of foraging groups from
the past. If we can assume that smallness of group size (as
in the Ju/hoansi) is a constraint on fertility levels, is an indicator of child spacing, and ensures that several age-mates are
not available, we can infer the behavior of certain children
within different communities.
19
A significant question to address through the archaeological record is whether children within smaller bands in the
past experienced few instances in which they were left unsupervised. Conversely, within larger foraging bands, were
most children left for periods in which they participated in
autonomous activities apart from adult supervision? Does
population size stimulate a relationship between age differentiation and allocated labor tasks? Perhaps we can distinguish patterns of child behavior and activity areas by analyzing the relationship between settlement patterns, population
sizes, and subsistence patterns.
As seen among the Hadza and the San, many children
from foraging societies have definitive autonomous roles
apart from adults. They often offer significant contributions to subsistence and labor strategies, and their childhood
demonstrates how their society carries out socialization processes (Schildkrout 1978; Whiting and Whiting 1975).
20
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
21
Conclusion
In the construction of an archaeology of children, the
formulation of hypotheses requires that we recognize the
types of archaeological and ethnographic data that are available to answer archaeological questions. The artifacts, activity areas, or specific behavioral patterns of past children
can be best identified when we take into account age-sets,
different genders, and the subsistence practices of each society. Recognizing the behavioral patterns of children through
ethnographic materials can help archaeologists reconstruct
the different kinds of experiences of children in the past.
French argues that
Yet to be achieved is a careful historical treatment of
ancient childhood, an investigation of how and why childrearing practices either persisted or changed over time
. . . Finally, once a historical study is in place, historians
can turn their attention to tracing, where possible, the
effects of changes in child-rearing practices on the larger
society. [French 1991:23]
22
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Peter Schmidt, Kathleen Deagan,
John Mason, and Ken Mease for reading drafts of this essay,
offering productive comments, and giving their guidance.
Many drafts were written when I was still at the University
of Florida. My thanks go to the department and my peers
who created an exciting and challenging atmosphere and
encouraged me to pursue this topic. I am also grateful to Jane
Baxter for organizing this volume and providing guiding
suggestions for this chapter. I am especially thankful to my
family for their emotional and financial support. Although
this chapter has benefited from the input of many friends and
colleagues, any errors in interpretation and presentation are
my own.
The final draft of this essay was made possible by the
support of a Richard Carley Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship
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Flordeliz T. Bugarin
2
Childhood Learning and the Distribution of
Knowledge in Foraging Societies
Kathryn Keith
Pierce College
ABSTRACT
A differential distribution of knowledge is characteristic of all human societies, and in relatively egalitarian foraging
societies, in which age and gender tend to structure the few distinct social roles available, the distribution of cultural
knowledge is also expected to occur along these lines. In this chapter, I consider the relationship between child-rearing
practices and the distribution of cultural knowledge across social roles. In particular, I look at gendered patterns
of knowledge and decision-making, drawing upon foraging societies in three different environmental zones as case
studies for comparison: the !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert, the Aka Pygmies of the central African forests, and
the Utku and Nunamiut Eskimo of northern Alaska and Canada. Child-rearing practices vary among the three
groups considered here and are found to relate to the distribution of knowledge and skills across gender roles. This,
in turn, may be among the factors influencing group decision-making patterns.
Keywords: children, distribution of knowledge, decision-making, socialization, gender, hunter-gatherers
his chapter considers the relationship between the distribution of knowledge and child-rearing practices in foraging societies as they relate to gendered patterns of activity
and decision-making. A division of labor allows a group as a
whole not only to exploit a wider range of resources but also
to collect a correspondingly larger amount of information
regarding the environment in general and food resources in
particular. With a division of labor according to sex, men and
women collect different information about their immediate
situation in the course of their daily activities. They may
also require somewhat different sets of skills and knowledge
to carry out their tasks. Since even the simplest culture
contains more information than could be learned by any individual in a lifetime (Hutchins 1991:306), a differential
distribution of knowledge is characteristic of all human societies. In relatively egalitarian foraging societies, in which
age and gender tend to structure the few distinct social roles
available, the distribution of cultural knowledge would be
expected to occur along these same lines. Effective problemsolving and decision-making rely in part on the quality of
information available, and mechanisms exist in every society
C 2006 by the American AnthroArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 2740, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
pological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
28
Kathryn Keith
Patterns of Decision-Making
Compared with those in more complex societies, the relations between men and women in band societies in general
are relatively egalitarian (Leacock 1978). Even with a division of labor, men and women may have much knowledge
in common and many overlapping activities and spheres of
influence (Draper 1976a:77). The interest here, however,
is not in the contrast between mobile hunter-gatherers and
more complex societies but rather in the variation among
foraging societies. Foraging societies differ in the degree of
gender egalitarianism that characterizes them (Kent 1999).
Such differences would be expected to both affect and be reflected in the decision-making processes of the group, with
women having more or less influence in decisions that affect
the group as a whole.
Root (1983) suggests that equal access to information
is necessary for the maintenance of egalitarian relations. But
not every member of a group is involved in every decision.
Some decisions involve only individuals, others involve subgroups within the band, and still others involve the band as
a whole. Consensus would have to be reached among those
involved in a given activity (Leacock 1978). For example,
among the Nunivak Eskimo, women are responsible for the
familys food stores and make decisions about what and how
much the family should eat (Lantis 1946). Not every member
of the band has to agree on the use of a particular households
resources.
The differential distribution of knowledge within a
group is not absolute. Different domains of knowledge may
be distributed differently, with some domains available to everyone and others distributed more variably (Boster 1991).
Individuals may differ in ability, experience, or interest such
that even within, for example, a domain of knowledge associated with men there could be considerable variation. Blurton
Jones and Konner (1976) point out that !Kung hunters are
careful observers of animal behavior and seem to note more
detail in a given situation than may be immediately needed
for hunting success. That knowledge may, however, be useful
in the future in different circumstances. Most of this knowledge is acquired by individuals through direct experience.
Since individual experience differs, the specific knowledge
held by individuals also differs. At the same time, there
seems to be relatively little transmission of information from
one man to another, even from old to young (Blurton Jones
and Konner 1976:344). Instead, individual experience and
knowledge about animal behavior is applied in actual hunting situations, when men offer and evaluate interpretations
of animal spoor and discuss the best course of action.
Johnson (1982) discusses constraints on the number of
individuals who can effectively participate in making a given
decision. He notes that studies in the field of sociology and
in related disciplines have found that, in problem-solving
groups, there is an organizational threshold in groups of six
members. When problem-solving groups exceed this number, they experience scalar stress, such that the quality of
decisions tends to decrease, resulting in a lack of consensus, an increase in disputes, and often the development of
hierarchical organization to resolve these problems.
Johnson goes on to discuss !Kung social organization
as composed of basal units: adults are considered to be
the basal units of nuclear families and social units. Nuclear
families are the basal units of both rainy-season camps and
extended families, while extended families are the basal units
of large dry-season camps (Johnson 1982:398). Decisionmaking in larger aggregations takes place through a sequential hierarchy, whereby if consensus were achieved first
within nuclear families, then within extended families, a
group decision would only require consensus among extended families (Johnson 1982:403).
In a sequential process of decision-making, the entire
extended family would not be involved in the decision at
the last stage, but an individual member would represent the
family. In the process of making the decision, new information would need to be considered. Johnson (1982:403)
suggests that discussion at the extended-family level . . .
might often require new consensus to be reached at lower
levels, and the whole process is likely to be often lengthy.
But consensus (in the sense of everyone having to agree
before a decision goes forward) is not an adequate description of most decision-making in foraging societies. Hewlett
(1991:28) notes, for example, that autonomy is a core value
among the Aka of the western Congo Basin rain forests, and
decision-making is the reserved prerogative of the individual. Some decisions involve smaller groups within a large
aggregation and do not necessarily fall along kinship lines.
For example, if enough boys of the right age are present in
the large group, it might be decided to conduct a male initiation camp. This decision would not involve every adult or
even every family. Only the families with eligible youths and
other prospective participants in the initiation might need to
be involved in the decision. Even among the interested parties, complete agreement might not be necessary; if enough
of those eligible decided to participate, the initiation could
proceed even if others elected not to join.
Even in decisions involving the entire group, a formal
consensus might not be necessary. A !Kung Giraffe dance is
a healing dance that involves the whole village. In this dance,
29
!Kung men after killing their first adult male and female big
game animals (Lee 1979). The tattoos mark the man as a
successful hunter and would tend to validate him as a source
of hunting knowledge. Among the !Kung, until a young man
has received the tattoos of the first buck ceremony, he is
not considered an adult and is therefore not eligible to marry
(Howell 1979). Among small-scale groups, in which adults
are in close daily contact with each other, such overt markers of an individuals knowledge and capabilities may not be
necessary. In the course of daily interaction and observation
of each others activities, individuals who represent more or
less reliable sources for particular categories of knowledge
would be commonly known.
A division of labor on the basis of age and gender structures the distribution and flow of information in a society. It
also provides mechanisms for the evaluation of information
sources. In !Kung, Inuit, and Aka Pygmy groups, young children (up to age four or five) are said to lack sense, while older
children lack knowledge. Neither of these age groups contributes substantially to subsistence, and the knowledge and
immediate information they possess would tend to be less
highly evaluated than that of more experienced age groups.
Young adults have more knowledge but still lack experience.
The oldest members of the group have much experience, but
if they are not actively participating in subsistence activities, they may lack more immediate information. The age
group with sufficient experience, skill, and knowledge, as
well as access to immediate information, is that of the mature
adults. This age group is likely, then, to be more influential
in decisions that affect the group as a whole, in which both
knowledge and the valuation of immediate information are
important. This would include decisions about movement
and resource utilization.
Hatano and Inagaki (1991) discuss horizontal and vertical patterns of interaction that affect the flow of information
and decision-making in a group. Several situations in foraging groups may be characterized by vertical interactions
(interactions in which one participant is thought more capable than the other). In such interactions, the knowledge of
the more capable individual is not challenged as much as it
is in horizontal interactions. Given the small size of foraging
groups, most children (over age four or five) spend their time
in multiage play groups. Biesele (1976) notes that it is the
older !Kung who tell stories, whereas younger storytellers
are more rare. Although stories are generally told by older
individuals for the amusement of their peers, children and
young adults are often among the listeners. In each of these
situations, more experienced individuals interact with less
experienced ones, offering the potential for vertical interactions to take place.
Horizontal interactions, characterized by more discussion and elaboration of ideas, would tend to occur with
30
Kathryn Keith
31
Aka Pygmies
The Aka are foragers living in the tropical rain forests of
the western Congo Basin (the information in this section was
drawn from Hewlett 1991 and 1992). While the forest offers
a large variety of plant and animal species, the distribution is
relatively sparse, such that there are no large concentrations
of a given species in a given area.
Men and women cooperate extensively in their daily activities and share many domains of knowledge and skill. Although men and women have defined roles in the division of
labor, in practice they often assist one another and have very
similar capabilities. House-building, most of the gathering,
cooking, and the primary responsibility for child care are
associated with women. Men also do some gathering, particularly of honey, and are highly involved with child care.
Hunting with the crossbow, the trapping of medium-sized
game, and spear-hunting of wild pig and elephant are associated with men. Women participate occasionally in crossbow
hunting and trapping but never spear hunt. Both women and
men trap small game and net hunt. The distribution of gathered and hunted foods is generally carried out by whoever
obtained them.
Net hunting is a cooperative activity conducted most
of the year. Sometimes men chase the animals into the net,
where women kill them, and other times the roles are reversed. Husbands and wives sometimes cooperate in other
tasks and sometimes work in separate male and female
groups. Men and women contribute similar amounts to the
diet, although this varies with the location of the camp. Aka
spend most of their time in forest camps but move to village
camps for three or four months of the year. In the forest, men
tend to contribute more to the diet. In village camps, however, women work in the fields of Ngandu villagers to obtain
manioc and other goods, while men do little work at all.
Hewlett (1991:43) comments that the Aka are probably as egalitarian as human societies get. Women actively
participate in all kinds of decisions, including those that affect the group as a whole. They also carry out most of the
trade that takes place with the Ngandu villagers. Women
tend to be younger than their husbands and therefore often
outlive them. It is not uncommon for these older widows to
be influential and outspoken members of their group.
While the few named status positions are held by men,
Hewlett (1991:40) notes that these men hold no absolute
power. These positions include a healer, a liaison with
the Ngandu farmers, and a spear hunt leader who also has
responsibilities for some rituals. Men have a secret society, which implies some exclusive domain of knowledge,
but women also have their own ritual roles, songs, and
dances.
32
Kathryn Keith
Inuit
In this section, much of the information involves the
Utkuhikhalingmiut (abbreviated Utku) and the Nunamiut
(although other Inuit groups will also be mentioned). While
there are some differences between them, both of these
groups share what Lantis (1946:257) calls generic Eskimo
traits. These include a lack of attachment to a particular locality, a lack of land ownership, leadership associated with
wealthy hunters, and early marriage of girls. These groups
also seem to share some general patterns in child care and
the division of labor.
The Utku and the Nunamiut both live in Arctic environments. The Nunamiut live in northern Alaska, occupying the
Anaktuvuk Pass area in the central Brooks Range (Gubser
1965). The Utku occupy an approximately 35,000-squaremile area in the Canadian Northwest Territories (Briggs
1970). While the Nunamiut rely primarily on caribou for
food, fish is now the primary food of the Utku, supplemented
by seals and caribou. Berries and some greens and roots provide variety in both diets. Rabbits and ptarmigan and other
birds are also eaten. Several other animals provide a supplement to the Nunamiut diet, including mountain sheep, bear,
moose, and beaver (Gubser 1965; Nelson 1969).
There is some variation in gender roles among various
Inuit groups. In some groups, for example, tool-making is
the responsibility of men, while in others it is not a gendered
activity and individuals make their own tools. Fishing may
be associated mainly with men, with women, or with both.
Caribou hunting among inland groups is a cooperative activity; whale-hunting among coastal groups is mainly a male
activity, though women sometimes participate. The degree of
flexibility and overlap in subsistence-related roles can vary
as well (DAnglure 1984; Graburn 1969; Lantis 1984).
Among the Utku and Nunamiut, the division of labor
seems to be relatively rigid. In general, men hunt, trap, and
make and repair travel equipment and tools, while women
sew, prepare food, and do whatever gathering needs to be
done. Men contribute by far the major portion of the diet,
while women process the food, hides, sinews, and other materials. The collection of firewood and water (or ice) usually
falls to women. Women are also responsible for cooking,
feeding the dogs, cleaning the house, and looking after the
children. Women rely on men for the tools they need to carry
out their work, while men rely on women for the clothing
that keeps them warm and dry during the hunt.
There are two named status positions in Inuit society:
the shaman and the umialik. Female shamans are known,
but it is uncertain whether they are common. Lantis (1946)
asserts that while shamans have exclusive access to some
kinds of ritual and spiritual knowledge, their influence in
33
34
Kathryn Keith
!Kung
The !Kung San occupy an area at the northern edge of
the Kalahari Desert on either side of the Botswana-Namibia
border (Lee 1979). The environment provides an abundant
and varied supply of vegetable foods and a relatively scarce
and unpredictable supply of game animals. The main limiting factor for the !Kung is the scarcity and sparse distribution
of standing water. The availability of water affects !Kung settlement patterns, such that people tend to aggregate around
permanent waterholes during the April to September dry season and to disperse during the rainy season from November
to April.
Of the over two hundred named plant varieties known
to the !Kung, at Dobe 105 are considered edible. The major
plant food is the mongongo, which provides both a fruit and a
nut, but the !Kung do not absolutely rely on that one source.
The variety of other available foods is such that a group
could survive even a poor mongongo harvest (Lee 1979).
The !Kung hunt six major species of large antelope, giraffe,
and several species of smaller game. Meat provides an average of about 40 percent of the calories in the !Kung diet.
Together, the plant and animal foods provide the !Kung with
a nutritionally adequate diet (Truswell and Hansen 1976).
Draper (1976a:82) describes the excitement of the children as the women return from gathering; Shostak (1981)
notes similar reactions when the men return with meat. Although vegetable foods are the major component of the
!Kung diet, both men and women tend to value meat more,
describing gathered foods (with the exception of the mongongo nut) as things comparable to nothing (Shostak
1981:218). Meat, on the other hand, is sometimes used as
a synonym for food. When Nisa, a !Kung woman who was
perfectly capable of gathering her own vegetable foods and
capturing her own game, ran away from her husband, her
brother told her, Isnt a husband like a father? He helps you
live and gives you food. If you refuse to marry, where do you
think youll find food to eat? (Shostak 1981:141).
Tasks normally associated with women include gathering food, drawing water, cooking, building huts, and caring
for children. Men, however, participate in each of these activities to varying degrees. Men contribute about a fifth of
the total gathered food (Lee 1979) and in fact are as knowledgeable as women about plant resources (Shostak 1981).
An unmarried man is able to make his own hut and cook his
own food (Howell 1979). Though women are responsible for
the major portion of child care, while in camp, fathers often
hold their infants (Katz and Konner 1981), and both men and
women maintain an awareness of childrens activities when
they spend the day in camp (Draper 1972). Men and children
also sometimes assist in getting the daily water supply.
Tasks normally associated with men include hunting
and healing. Men also make most of the tools and carrying
devices that both men and women use. !Kung women do not
hunt large game, but they can recognize animal tracks and
report any promising spoor they find as they go about their
regular activities. They may also hunt smaller game. In the
35
36
gathering. Draper observed no instance of a girl going hunting with the men.
Boys start to accompany men on hunting trips at about
age 12, and by 15 to 18 years of age they are themselves actively hunting (Konner 1977). A boy must prove himself as a
hunter by killing his first large antelope before he is considered an adult. Girls do not contribute regularly to subsistence
until they are around 14 years old, by which time they may
already be married (Draper 1976b). Even then, they may not
take on the primary responsibility.
Learning patterns among the !Kung result in a differential distribution of knowledge. Boys and girls are exposed
to the knowledge and skills required for gathering plants
and hunting small game, but boys develop much greater expertise in hunting. Blurton Jones and Konner (1976) found
that adult hunters do not tend to discuss animal behavior
much among themselves. Rather, that information is transmitted indirectly in the process of tracking animals, as young
hunters listen to more experienced hunters debating the evidence and their interpretations. This knowledge is reinforced
through the direct experience the young hunter himself obtains in tracking and observing animals. Since girls do not
generally accompany hunters, they are excluded from that
domain of knowledge.
At the same time, neither boys nor girls regularly go on
gathering expeditions after the age of about three years. Until they reach their mid-teens, !Kung children are relatively
free of responsibilities. While they may regularly play at
gathering, hunting, and other activities, much of the knowledge, skill, and experience they gain for survival in the bush,
on hunting or gathering expeditions, is developed largely in
late childhood and early adulthood as they learn alongside
more experienced adults. Because older boys more often accompany groups of men hunting and older girls more often
accompany groups of women gathering, they tend to develop some specialized expertise along with more general
bush skills. Early childhood patterns, in this case, do not contribute to what differential knowledge there is among adults
as much as do the adult patterns of interaction themselves.
The development of healing skills is similarly linked to adult
patterns of activity and beliefs about the effects of num on
unborn children. Because women during childbearing years
are limited in their ability to develop their healing skills,
healers tend to be predominantly male.
As for other skills, such as the processing of foods and
other materials to make tools, clothing, huts, and items of
adornment, children in camp are free to observe and even try
out any of those activities that interest them. As noted above,
while some tasks may generally be associated more with
one gender than the other, in practice there is considerable
overlap and flexibility in mens and womens activities.
Kathryn Keith
Discussion
The above comparison of Aka, Inuit, and !Kung foragers
suggests that learning patterns in childhood are related to the
distribution of knowledge among adults and that patterns of
decision-making for the group as a whole may be influenced,
in part, by the way in which relevant knowledge is distributed
among social roles.
All three groups considered here are characterized by a
relatively long and unencumbered childhood, with little gender separation. Children are weaned between three and five
years of age in each group and spend much of their infancy
and early childhood being carried by their mothers in order
to have ready access to the breast. As noted above, children
by the age of two are attuning to social roles and the appropriate use of objects; by the time they are weaned, children
are already well aware of gender-related roles and expectations. They have had ample opportunity to observe firsthand
the regular activities in which women engage, as well as
many of the activities assigned to men. Areas in which they
would have little direct experience include gendered activities that are spatially separated, such as large-game hunting
that may involve a few days travel away from camp (as
among the !Kung) or tool-making activities that take place
in the mens house among some Inuit groups. Where mens
and womens activities are frequently cooperative and overlapping, as among the Aka, related areas of knowledge are
less specialized and children have regular exposure to both.
In all three groups, after they are weaned children tend
to spend much of their time in or near camp, rather than accompanying adults during subsistence activities. They spend
much of their time in same-sex multiage play groups, playing
games of skill and role-playing based on the adult models
they have already internalized. Older children may influence
the play of younger children with their own understandings
of adult roles they take on in their pretend play. While adults
tend to maintain a constant awareness of childrens location,
in and outside of camp, they do not directly supervise or
organize their activities.
Early and middle childhood is important in the internalization of gender role models and in their negotiation
and practice in multiage play groups. The development and
practice of some related skills also occurs during this period.
However, childhood appears less important in the differential distribution of knowledge and skills in foraging societies
than the period of transition to adulthood. Children are aware
of gender roles and may tend to enact the appropriate roles
in their pretend play. At the same time, however, they are
neither discouraged nor ridiculed for crossing culturally defined gender lines in their play activities. Children may not
have direct exposure to some male realms of knowledge in
early and middle childhood, but it is in the transition to adulthood when girls and boys begin developing their own more
gender-specific bodies of knowledge and skill.
Among the Inuit, where the technology and related skills
are more complex than among the Aka or the !Kung, this period of transition starts somewhat earlier, with children being
assigned more clearly gendered tasks starting at about the
age of 10. The significant degree of overlap and cooperation
among adults in Aka society is seen, as well, in the flexibility Aka children of all ages have in the activities in which
they choose to engage. While the !Kung, too, have significant overlap and flexibility in gendered activities, the differentiation that does exist is associated in part with different
learning opportunities and expectations during the transition
period to adulthood in the mid to late teens. Boys (and not
girls) begin accompanying hunters and have the opportunity
to learn from experienced hunters and to develop their own
skills through direct experience.
A potentially useful observation for archaeologists is
the relationship between environment, technology, and gender roles noted for the Inuit. The relative complexity of the
technology and the associated skills in its maintenance and
use may be a factor in the degree of separation between
male and female domains. Among the Inuit, both men and
women needed to master not only the appropriate knowledge
for their roles but complex skills as well. Since skill acquisition requires not simply exposure but also practice, it may be
related to earlier gendered task assignment and more formal
teaching. In contrast, neither the Aka nor the !Kung had a
complex technology for the accomplishment of subsistence
activities. Children in both groups were free from tasks until
adolescence, and neither group was characterized by formal
teaching.
Another distinction among the three groups considered
here is the relative spatial separation of gendered tasks.
Among Inuit groups in which men and older boys spend
much of their time in a mens house while women and
younger children live in a separate residence, there is a spatial separation of gendered tasks, with older children being
37
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3
The Nature of Childhood: Ethnography as a
Tool in Approaching Children in Archaeology
Kelly Thomas
DePaul University
ABSTRACT
Studying contemporary children in the United States might seem like an odd place to seek information that can
help inform the archaeology of childhood. It is our very familiarity with this cultural construct of childhood, as
former children and as contemporary parents, aunts, uncles, or friends of children, that often draws criticism from
scholars of childhood in archaeology and anthropology. An ethnographic study of four-year-old children from a
Chicago neighborhood taking part in an outdoor camp demonstrates, however, that looking beyond the familiar
is indeed possible and certainly fruitful for archaeologists wishing to study children in the past. Particularly, this
research takes a historical approach to contemporary constructions of childhood and looks at how contemporary
ideals affect childrens behavior through adult input and the built environment. Exploring this relationship between
cultural ideals and childrens behavior and the ways they are mediated provides insight into how particularistic
cultural constructions of children and childhood may be represented through the behavioral traces of them in the
archaeological record.
Keywords: nature, children, Chicago, behavior, built environment, adult input
C 2006 by the American AnthroArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 4150, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
pological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
42
Kelly Thomas
Ethnography as a Tool
43
44
Kelly Thomas
Ethnography as a Tool
45
46
Kelly Thomas
Play Setting
Clearly, the structure of the camp activities (or perceived
lack thereof) and the cultural parameters of play time and
non-play time shaped childrens experiences both socially
and behaviorally. Another observation was that campers behavior varied depending on the specific play setting. The
Outdoor Kids Camp program was structured around the idea
of free play, and after arriving at a park, water park, or beach,
the children were allowed/encouraged to disperse and create
their own activities. Each specific setting itself communicated quite strongly what kinds of activities were appropriate and not appropriate independent of adult suggestions
and more subtle cues. For example, Supera Parks spiderweb climber and pirate-ship jungle gym inspired many children to play games in which they took on the roles of spiders and pirates. Likewise, the plastic shovels and buckets
we took to the beach encouraged digging and sandcastle
building.
The cultural creation of space even for children who
had limited experience with new environments could be seen
most drastically as campers altered their behavior depending
on the relative wildness of the place. The differences in
attitudes and behaviors were expressed most obviously in the
campers reactions to insects in different play environments.
Interactions with bugs, such as ants, spiders, biting flies,
and lightning bugs, triggered varying responses from the
children based on the individual child and animal involved.
In instances of insect encounters, almost half of the children
in our group responded to the animals in some combination
of screaming, flailing their arms, and dashing away from the
insects or, alternatively, by stomping on them. These reactions shifted, however, according to context. For example,
during one of our beach visits, James told me in a very serious tone that he was afraid of bugs. On the other hand, at
a playground he stood examining a lightning bug on a slide
and became quite upset when another camper smashed it.
The most dramatic and widespread changes in behavior
toward insects came from two distinct environments: in front
of the Near North Nursery School, a brick building with
a few mature trees in front, and at the North Park Nature
Center, a 46-acre nature preserve (City of Chicago 2003).
The most striking example of this contrast could be seen
in the case of ants. When confronted with a trail of ants
along the sidewalks outside the nursery school and on the
way to parks, the campers responded with a combination of
screams and stomps. However, during lunch at the Nature
Ethnography as a Tool
47
Pretend Play
Subtle cues as well as overt instruction and correction
from adults and the powerful forces of the built environment
do not negate childrens abilities to act independently and
experience spaces on their own terms. One place where I
observed this form of independent action and child-specific
experience was in the realm of pretend play. Pretend play
is a means through which children can take what they find
within their environments and transform objects and spaces
into whatever they want them to be. Even in the context of
48
Kelly Thomas
Ethnography as a Tool
49
behavior is appropriate at certain times. In order to understand patterns in childrens play behavior, we must take into
account the broader society and the childrens place within
that society and look deeper into why play was allowed at
certain places and not others. Until we explore the dialog
between children and adults in terms of play and socialization, the remains of childrens play will continue to appear
unknowable both ethnographically and archaeologically.
Just as childhood and nature are socially constructed
specifically within modern American culture, so is play.
Echoing a cornerstone of anthropological research, the historical, geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic context of
society must be taken into account in reconstructing the lives
of children in the past. In this sense, childrens play is not
random and unknowable, as emphasized by many archaeologists. On the contrary, childrens behaviors should demonstrate regularities and patterning that reflect the social norms
and guidelines for childrens behavior and use of space in a
particular cultural setting (Baxter, chapter 6, this volume).
This research demonstrates that play is not a randomizing or
a distorting factor, nor is it simply a socialization tool or an
opportunity for adult mimicry.
Instead, play is a process by which children negotiate
their space and position within the larger society of other
children, adults, and natural surroundings. These elemental relationships are those that define and shape the childs
world, and their expression through play creates a behavioral
link to the archaeological record. Taking into account the historical and cultural contexts, ethnography can make explicit
the processes and dimensions involved in the cultural construction of children and childhood. By breaking down the
notion that childhood is a natural or universal concept, we
can study children as children and as active members of their
societies. Once we frame children as active agents, we can
better acknowledge and analyze how children create meaningful experiences in the spaces of their lives and with objects
in those spaces. Finally, by accepting the first two points
that childhood is culturally constructed and that children use
space and objects in meaningful wayswe can examine the
influence of adult society and the built environment on childrens use of space and childrens resulting experiences.
and to Dr. Robert Rotenberg and Dr. Nina Hewitt for advising the initial version of this piece. The support of my family
and friends is greatly appreciated. My greatest thanks goes
to the 22 children directly involved in this project: it would
not have been possible without you.
References
Aitken, Stuart C.
2001a Geographies of Young People: The Morally Contested Spaces of Identity. New York: Routledge.
2001b Playing with Children: Immediacy Was Their Cry.
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1971 The Message This Is Play. In Childs Play.
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Baxter, Jane Eva
2005 The Archaeology of Childhood: Children, Gender,
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1993 The Lives of Hunter-Gatherer Children: Effects of
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Acknowledgments
This is by no means my project alone, and I owe many
people thanks for making this project such a great experience. Research was possible through a grant from the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences at DePaul University. Thank
yous go to Dr. Jane Baxter for encouragement to explore
this topic and for continued advice throughout the project
Crain, William
1997 How Nature Helps Children Develop. Montessori
Life 9:4143.
Cronon, William
1996a Introduction: In Search of Nature. In Uncommon
Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature.
50
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and Anthropology: Perspectives for the 21st Century. Helen Schwartzman, ed. Pp. 113. Westport,
CT: Bergin and Garvey.
Simmons, Deborah A.
1994 Urban Childrens Preferences for Nature: Lessons
for Environmental Education. Childrens Environments 11:194203.
Sobel, David
1990 A Place in the World: Adults Memories of Childhoods Special Places. Childrens Environments
Quarterly 7(4):512.
Sofaer Derevenski, Joanna
2000 Material Culture Shock: Confronting Expectations
in the Material Culture of Children. In Children
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Theis, Joachim
2001 Participatory Research with Children in Vietnam.
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1994 The Scripture of Maps, the Names of Trees. In
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7
Redefining Childhood through Bioarchaeology:
Toward an Archaeological and Biological
Understanding of Children in Antiquity
Megan A. Perry
East Carolina University
ABSTRACT
Many critiques surrounding the archaeology of childhood have addressed the disparate social and biological identifications of children. Bioarchaeological information can elucidate the lives of children and the meaning of childhood in
antiquity. Bioanthropological techniques additionally can identify biological developmental stages of childhood that
may link to socially defined age grades. This chapter presents and critically evaluates the diverse techniques that may
be used to illuminate relationships between biological evidence and social interpretations in the archaeological study
of children and childhood. A brief example from the Byzantine Near East illustrates the utility of bioarchaeology in
the study of ancient children.
Keywords: bioarchaeology, skeletal age, migration, health, diet, lifestyle, childhood
hildren actively participated in creating the archaeological record alongside adults, but they have traditionally been neglected in archaeological interpretations. Even
when children are considered, who children were and what
childhood entailed in ancient societies are taken out of
cultural context (Baxter 2005; Sofaer Derevenski 2000:11).
On the other hand, children from past societies traditionally have been more visible to bioarchaeologists than to
archaeologists. Bioarchaeologists can estimate the skeletal
age of deceased individuals and identify subadults, that
is, individuals under approximately 18 years of age, in a
cemetery sample. Should these researchers consider all of
these individuals children, however? Similar to archaeology, biological anthropology primarily uses Western notions of childhood development based on chronological age
when considering deceased inhabitants of ancient communities. These biologically derived ages in many societies may
not correspond to culture-bound age grades of infancy,
childhood, or adulthood (Chamberlain 1997:250; Kamp
2001:3; Sofaer Derevenski 2000:910). As noted by Sofaer Derevenski, however, these two elementsthe cor-
C 2006 by the American AnthroArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 89111, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
pological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
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Megan A. Perry
91
comprehension of the biological processes leading to stressrelated lesions in order to fully understand the health of
past populations (e.g., Armelagos 1969; Buikstra and Cook
1980; Cohen and Armelagos 1984; Cook 1984; Goodman
et al. 1983; Goodman, Lallo, et al. 1984; Goodman, Martin,
et al. 1984; Lambert 2000; Larsen 1997). Additionally, new
chemical, molecular, and analytical techniques have been
developed to address particular concerns of the osteological
paradox (see Wright and Yoder 2003).
Finally, the fact that most populations are demographically unstable also skews assessment of children in a cemetery sample. In unstable populations, fertility or migration
rates, rather than the number of deaths in the population,
more directly affect computation of mortality variables such
as the average age of death, in addition to the overall ageat-death distribution of the sample (Buikstra et al. 1986;
Johannson and Horowitz 1986; Milner et al. 2000; Paine
1997; Sattenspiel and Harpending 1983; Storey and Hirth
1997). The chance of having a certain number of deceased
individuals within an age category in a cemetery reflects
the number of living individuals at risk of death in that category (Milner et al. 2000; Paine 1997; Storey and Hirth
1997). Frequently, researchers attribute a high frequency of
infant deaths to increased community stress (Angel 1975;
Lallo et al. 1978; Lovejoy et al. 1977) or changes in burial
practices (Houby-Nielsen 2000). However, an increase in
population fertility rates or the immigration of families with
infants into the community may also explain a larger than
expected number of infant deaths.
Paleodemographers studying infant mortality have attempted to correct for the instability of ancient populations
by comparing the number of weaning age (15 years) deaths
with deaths of children 110 years (see Cook 1976, 1979).
Investigations of modern juvenile mortality patterns have
discovered that populations with high levels of childhood
mortality tend to have a high rate of weaning-age deaths
(Wills and Waterlow 1958). Additionally, hazard models
used to calculate the risk of death in each age category
have been used to create age-at-death distributions in ancient populations that take into account nonstationarity (e.g.,
a change in migration or fertility rates) and age estimation
errors (Gage 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994; Siler 1979, 1983).
Thus, interpretations of health, mortality, and well-being in
children in antiquity must consider the effects of the above
intrinsic and extrinsic sources of bias.
92
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93
94
Megan A. Perry
95
96
Megan A. Perry
tions of 87 Sr/86 Sr values to study human migration have concentrated on identifying whether individuals changed residence between childhood and adulthood (Bentley et al. 2002;
Buikstra et al. 2004; Ericson 1989; Ezzo et al. 1997; Knudson
et al. 2004; Price, Grupe, et al. 1994; Price, Johnson, et al.
1994; Price et al. 1998; Price et al. 2000; Price et al.
2001; Price et al. 2002; Sealy et al. 1991, 1995). As mentioned above, dental enamel does not remodel after it has
formed. Thus, 87 Sr/86 Sr ratios in the enamel reflect the locale
where an individual lived during childhood while the enamel
formed. This value can be compared with either long bone
or other enamel values from the same individual or 87 Sr/86 Sr
values from local fauna to identify patterns of childhood
mobility.
Stable strontium isotopes have the potential to indicate movement during childhood in addition to migration
between childhood and adulthood. Recent investigations of
animal dentition have compared multiple samples from one
tooth to assess seasonal mobility patterns of prehistoric pastoral nomads (Balasse et al. 2002). Comparing samples of
human dental enamel from single teeth similarly may reflect movement during childhood. For example, the crowns
of the canines develop from about birth to seven years and
crowns of the third molars from about 7 to 16 years (although
the latter varies considerably; see Hillson 1996:123). Thus,
carefully sampling striae from these teeth or comparing teeth
within the dental arcade may reflect movement of children
from one geological location to another during enamel deposition and narrow down the age this occurred (White 2004).
Stable strontium isotope ratios provide many future possibilities for understanding childhood migration in antiquity.
97
Conclusion
Many critiques surrounding the archaeology of childhood have addressed the disparate social and biological
identifications of children. Bioarchaeological information
can elucidate the lives of children and the meaning of
childhood in antiquity. Bioanthropological investigations of
warfare-related violence in children may indicate when children became involved in this adult activity. Investigating
childhood migration can additionally contextualize the lives
of ancient children. Furthermore, bioanthropology can explore the cosmological and ritual significance of childhood
through assessment of infanticide, child abuse, and sacrifice.
Bioanthropological techniques can identify biological
developmental stages of childhood that may link to socially
defined age grades. The age at which weaning occurs, for example, has implications for the patterning of mother-child
dependence in early childhood. The skeletal growth spurt
associated with puberty similarly may be associated with
a childs culturally prescribed rite of passage into adulthood. These indicators, along with archaeological, textual,
and ethnohistoric data, can assist in identifying children in
a cemetery sample. Thus, freeing notions of childhood and
children from Western or biologically based definitions and
the child/adult dichotomy using bioarchaeological data enables archaeologists to better assess the younger members
of an ancient community.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Jane Baxter and Jane Buikstra for
commenting on earlier versions of this chapter; all errors and
98
Megan A. Perry
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8
Dominant Discourses; Lived Experiences:
Studying the Archaeology of Children
and Childhood
Kathryn A. Kamp
Grinnell College
individual has affected the material culture and its distribution. How can we deceive ourselves into believing that a
substantial portion of the population is not affecting both architectural, artifact, and feature frequencies and their distribution? Why should children de facto have less of an impact
on the archaeological record than adults? As archaeologists
we delude ourselves if we suggest that children are invisible. Women were never invisible, merely ignored by scholars
who tended to view men as the generic gender, representing
what was important in a society. Similarly, there is no reason
to believe that children do not have a large impact on the archaeological record. While children and adults may not have
identical ways of using either space or artifacts, to consider
the adult usage normal and the childs behaviors simply a
distorting formation process is to effectively disinherit a
large proportion of the population.
As social constructs, the stages of childhood vary across
both time and space. Similarly, patterns in the experiences of
children differ both spatially and temporally and, of course,
show considerable variation within a single society. A number of principles are important for the continuing study of
children: (1) it is important to differentiate between childhood and its stages as a cultural construct and the realities of
particular childrens lives, (2) the lived experiences of children may well not mirror perfectly the cultural definitions of
the ideal or normal childhood, (3) like adults, children are
neither completely autonomous agents nor totally controlled
by others, (4) childhood tends to be a gendered construct
and childrens experiences are usually gendered as well, and
(5) children are active social agents, constantly negotiating
their situation with adults and peers and a potential force
for social transformation. These patterns, which are demonstrated and elaborated by the chapters in this volume, lead to
the inevitable conclusion that childhood is not only a viable
C 2006 by the American AnArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 115122, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
thropological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
116
Kathryn Kamp
age categories when they reported data and have used basic
adult and subadult categories, based upon the completion of skeletal maturation. This can be especially counterproductive, because later archaeologists frequently rely on
the biological data for additional analyses and are thus limited by the categories already used. There are also a number
of complications in discerning age from skeletal remains (see
Perry, this volume, for a review of this literature). Nevertheless, the bioarchaeological data, despite their weaknesses and
ambiguities, provide one of the best avenues for establishing
culturally significant age categories.
Turning age estimates into interpretations of the life cycle requires a consideration of grave goods, burial contexts,
and other supporting cultural evidence, both architectural
and artifactual, in addition to detailed study of the skeleton. Ideally, clear patterns in mortuary contexts and grave
goods will correspond to age groupings, and several archaeologists have made arguments about age categories based
upon such regularities (Joyce 1999; Lucy 1994; Palkovich
1980; Skeates 1991; Whittlesey 2002), but cultures are often not this straightforward. Perry (this volume) suggests that
we should be particularly aware of biocultural events with
particular potential for having significance as demarcations
of age stages. Weaning is one good example. The process
of weaning by its very nature implies a change in the relationship between adult and child, the age and circumstances
of the change are culturally determined, and the event may
also have considerable importance, both symbolically and
in terms of actual roles. The onset of puberty is another
phenomenon that frequently attains a cultural significance
and can be determined through a study of adolescent growth
spurts.
Other avenues for the analysis of childhood and its
meaning include artistic depictions, ceremonial architecture,
and the special mortuary category of child sacrifice. Initiation rites often, but not invariably, mark changes in the
life cycle. Artistic depictions (Hayes-Gilpin 2002; Janssen
and Janssen 1990; Joyce 2000; Serwint 1993) of changes
in apparel, hairstyles, and even physical anatomy may mark
changes in status and some figurines (Cyphers Guillen 1993)
or architecture may have been used in the rites themselves
(Roodt 1992). As Bugarin (this volume) points out, children
at various life stages may also be allotted separate living
space, and other features such as small furnishings (Park, this
volume) may reflect spaces designed especially for children.
117
of the general phenomenon of the stage or stages of childhood, and we must be careful to differentiate in our discussions and analyses between an attempt to identify a dominant
discourse of life-cycle stages and the reality of lived experiences. Further complicating study is a need to differentiate
between individual biographies and cultural patterns. Discerning the ill health, physical trauma, or lavish toys of one
child is biography. Discovering a pattern of disease, physical
child abuse, or toys among all or a segment of individuals of
particular ages leads to more general statements about the
experiences of children in a particular time and place.
Bioarchaeological analyses can be useful in understanding life histories as well as cultural definitions of life stages.
In particular, they provide a means of attack for issues of
childrens diet, health, and motor patterns. Of special interest may be the issue of the ages at which individuals marry,
become combatants in conflicts, and participate in the labor force in a variety of capacities. The prevalence of the
violence against children that today would be categorized
as child abuse can be ascertained by an examination of patterns of skeletal trauma. Perry (this volume) provides a useful
summary and evaluation of the current methods for determining age, health, and growth and activity patterns.
As noted above, in general the rhetoric of childhood (or
more likely multiple stages of childhood) tends to be controlled by adults. Individual experiences of childhood are
certainly strongly affected by adults and by societal expectations, but they are also in the hands of juvenile peers. In addition, children have some control over their own destiny and
experiences. Words like innovative, creative, experimental,
and contesting are common in archaeological discussions of
childhood.
118
Kathryn Kamp
set of material objects, but children may or may not use them
in the manner envisioned by adults.
Coercive adult actions may be both a part of the dominant discourse and part of childrens lived experience and
so need to be investigated by archaeologists. As noted earlier, physical traces of violence directed against children may
be observed in skeletal remains if they are severe enough,
but most types of adult discipline do not leave observable
evidence, except in documents or artwork. Thus, the Codex
Mendoza (Berdan and Anawalt 1992; Calnek 1992) suggests
the Aztecs used punishments such as waking the child in the
middle of the night, beating, and smoking (holding the child
over a fire into which chilies have been placed), with more
severe measures used as the child becomes more mature.
The extent to which these punishments describe reality is
disputed, however. While Clendinnen (1991:192) believes
that the harsh discipline may be fairly accurate and reflects
the Aztecs need to prepare children, especially males, for
a harsh and demanding world, Calnek (1992:86) argues that
the depictions are propagandistic, describing an ideal of virtuous conduct.
119
120
Kathryn Kamp
Conclusions
Archaeology, like anthropology, is currently grappling
with issues of identity and the individual. We have gotten
away from merely viewing culture as a mechanized, organic
entity and have begun to acknowledge the importance of
agency and of individual identities in structuring agency.
This volume demonstrates the importance and feasibility of
making age a component of the discussion of identity. The
next stage in the development of the topic of childhood and
children as an integral part of archaeological research is to
go beyond isolating any age group and start to view age
as simply one more vital socially constructed variable. This
means that the life cycle will become more of a focus in archaeological scholarship and that rather than being isolated
in separate case studies, a more full range of social identities, including gender, class, ethnicity, profession, and age,
will become integral to our discussions of the past (for an
interesting full-length monograph that does this, see Meskell
1999). In the past 20 years considerable strides have been
made in the study of gender and it is becoming as central
121
Chancellor, Valerie E.
1970 History for Their MastersOpinion in the English
History Textbook: 18001914. New York: A. M.
Kelley.
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9
Materializing Children: Challenges for the
Archaeology of Childhood
Helen B. Schwartzman
Northwestern University
What is this? he said at last. This is a
child! Haigha relied eagerly, coming in
front of Alice to introduce her, and spreading out both of his hands toward her in an
Anglo-Saxon attitude. We only found it
today. Its as large as life, and twice as natural!
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
and What Alice Found There
local and global, and, finally, (5) listen to what children have
to say themselves by examining their perspectives, actions,
and agency in the world.
In this chapter I draw on my interest in the anthropological study of children to comment on all of the essays in
this volume. My comments are organized in terms of what
seem to be the challenges that archaeologists face as they
attempt to materialize children. The first, and most important, challenge is recognizing that children and childhood
are, in fact, legitimate topics of research in archaeology. In
conjunction with this there is the challenge of developing
a framework for the interpretation of childrens behavior
and relationships as this information might appear in the
archaeological record. This leads directly to the challenge
of using this framework to reinterpret material evidence that
has already been collected as well as to discover new evidence of children and childhoods in the past. As a final
challenge I encourage researchers to think critically about
some of their assumptions about childrens behavior, especially assumptions about childrens play (which figures
prominently in this area of research) and what it may mean
to children as well as how it may be materialized. I begin with a discussion of what might be called the focus
challenge.
C 2006 by the American AnArcheological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. 15, pp. 123131, ISBN 1-931303-20-7.
thropological Association. All rights reserved. Permissions to photocopy or reproduce article content via www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.
124
Helen B. Schwartzman
Since Lillehammers article appeared in 1989 archaeologists have taken cues from researchers in cultural anthropology, sociology, history, and psychology to begin
to develop a framework for understanding and interpreting childrens behavior and relationships. The use and
continued development of this framework is evident in
all of the chapters in this volume. This framework may
Materializing Children
125
126
Helen B. Schwartzman
Materializing Children
127
Conclusion
One of the important things that I learned reading the
chapters in this volume is how much cultural anthropologists take for granted the ability to talk to as well as observe
our informants in everyday interactions and encounters. In
contrast, archaeologists have to work extremely hard to allow their material to speak to them and this is impressively demonstrated in this volume by all of the contributors.
The researchers who focus on ethnographic, ethnohistoric,
or bioarchaeological material work hard to make this material speak to archaeologists interested in studying children
and childhood. The investigators reporting the results of archaeological fieldwork also work hard to bring this subject
of study to the attention of all archaeologists and to use their
material to understand and interpret the childs world as it existed in specific time periods in particular cultural settings.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to listen
in on what the archaeological record has begun to say, with
the help of all of the researchers represented in this volume,
about the lives of children in the past.
Notes
1. In a survey of one hundred years of research as reported in American Anthropologist I found that only about 4
percent of articles published during this time period included
any significant information about children (Schwartzman
2001). Lawrence Hirschfeld (2002) found only three articles related to children in a search of articles in American
Anthropologist published between 1986 and 2001.
128
Helen B. Schwartzman
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131
List of Contributors
Jane Eva Baxter
DePaul University
Department of Anthropology
2343 North Racine
Chicago, IL 60614
jbaxter@depaul.edu
Flordeliz T. Bugarin
332 N. Piedmont St. #4
Arlington, VA 22203
florieb@hotmail.com
Kathryn A. Kamp
Department of Anthropology
Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA 50112
Kamp@Grinnell.edu
Kathryn Keith
Pierce College, Puyallup
1601 39th Ave SE
Puyallup, WA 98374
kkeith@pierce.ctc.edu
Megan A. Perry
Department of Anthropology
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
perrym@mail.ecu.edu
Helen B. Schwartzman
Northwestern University
Department of Anthropology
1810 Hinman, #103
Evanston, IL 60208-1310
hsjsls@northwestern.edu
Patricia E. Smith
Department of Anthropology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L9
smithpe@mcmaster.ca
Kelly Thomas
8843 Villa La Jolla Dr. 6
La Jolla, CA 92037
kellyjthomas@gmail.com
Robert W. Park
University of Waterloo
Department of Anthropology
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
rwpark@watarts.uwaterloo.ca
133
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to the Series Editor who distributes it to the members of the Archeology Division Editorial Review Committee, which normally
consists of the Series Editor, the Archeology Division President-elect, and the two Archeology Division board members-at-large.
2. The Review Committee members review the draft manuscript. Comments from the Review Committee members are collated
and summarized by the Series Editor, who communicates with the volume editor(s) or volume author(s). At this stage, in the rare
case of a manuscript that fundamentally fails to meet the committees expectations, the manuscript could be rejected. In most
cases, however, a manuscript is given final acceptance and the Series Editor transmits a list of any necessary changes, additions,
or deletions, which are to be made to the satisfaction of the Series Editor. The volume editor(s) may add their own suggestions
for improving the manuscripts at this point. It is their responsibility to distribute the editorial comments to the chapter authors.
3. The volume editor(s) or author(s) prepare(s) an electronic version of the revised manuscript using a standard word processing
software program. This version should be as free as possible of extraneous formatting code. The file is sent to the Series Editor,
who forwards it to a copy editor.
4. The copy editor returns hard copy of the copy edited manuscript to the volume editor(s), who review the changes or, in the case
of an edited volume, distribute the chapters to the individual authors for their responses. The accepted revisions are returned to
the copy editor, who transcribes the changes to the electronic version of the manuscript and prepares the volume for layout.
5. The volume editor(s) or author(s) provide digital versions of all of the illustrations in a format that is agreed upon with the
Series Editor.
6. The final version of the manuscript is forwarded by the Series Editor to the American Anthropological Association editor at
the University of California Press for layout and production.
7. Page proofs are distributed directly to the chapter author(s) for approval. The volume is then printed and distributed to the
members of the Archeology Division as well as made available in electronic form through AnthroSource.
ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS
OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
1. Alternative Approaches to Lithic Analysis, Donald O. Henry and George H. Odell, eds. (1989). xi + 259 pp., 72 figs., 46
tables, preface, bibliography. Out of print.
2. Powers of Observation: Alternative Views in Archeology, Sarah M. Nelson and Alice B. Kehoe, eds. (1990). viii + 115
pp., 19 figs., 3 tables, 1 plate, preface, introduction, bibliography.
3. Lords of the Southeast: Social Inequality and the Native Elites of Southeastern North America, Alex W. Barker and
Timothy R. Pauketat, eds. (1992). vii + 197 pp., 26 figs., 13 tables, preface, introduction, bibliography.
4. Hunting and Animal Exploitation in the Later Paleolithic and Mesolithic of Eurasia, Gail Larsen Peterkin, Harvey
M. Bricker, and Paul Mellars, eds. (1993). viii + 248 pp., 100 figs., 58 tables, 5 plates, introduction, bibliography.
5. Equity Issues for Women in Archeology, Margaret C. Nelson, Sarah M. Nelson, and Alison Wylie, eds. (1994). xii + 236
pp., 32 figs., 43 tables, 1 appendix, preface, introduction, bibliography.
6. Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies, Robert M. Ehrenreich, Carole L. Crumley, and Janet Levy, eds. (1995).
vi + 140 pp., 26 figs., preface, bibliography.
7. Rediscovering Darwin: Evolutionary Theory and Archeological Explanation, C. Michael Barton and Geoffrey A. Clark,
eds. (1997). viii + 319 pp., 39 figs., preface, bibliography.
8. Craft and Social Identity, Cathy Lynne Costin and Rita P. Wright, eds. (1998). vii + 182 pp., 29 figs., preface, introduction,
bibliography, index.
9. Complex Polities in the Ancient Tropical World, Elisabeth A. Bacus and Lisa J. Lucero, eds. (1999). iii + 201 pp., 38
figs., 9 tables, preface, introduction, bibliography.
10. Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals, Meredith S. Chesson, ed.
(2001). iii + 139 pp., 29 figs., 6 tables, introduction, bibliography, index.
11. The Space and Place of Death, Helaine Silverman and David B. Small, eds. (2002). iv + 209 pp., 55 figs., 9 tables,
preface, introduction, bibliography, afterword.
12. Thinking Small: Global Perspectives on Microlithization, Robert G. Elston and Steven L. Kuhn, eds. (2002). iii + 191
pp., 52 figs., 9 tables, introduction, bibliography.
13. Archaeology Is Anthropology, Susan D. Gillespie and Deborah L. Nichols, eds. (2003). v + 173 pp., 11 figs., introduction,
bibliography.
14. Foundations of Power in the Prehispanic Andes, Kevin J. Vaughn, Dennis Ogburn, and Christina A. Conlee, eds. (2004).
iv + 96 figs., preface, introduction, bibliography.
Current prices and ordering information available at the American Anthropological Association web site: www.aaanet.org.