Children of the Ice Age MICHELLE LANGLEY What did kids play with 20,000 years ago? New research suggests that figurines long thought to have been ritual icons may actually be children’s toys. Illustration: Tom Björklund T rying to find evidence for what children were doing during the Palaeolithic period of Europe 45,000 to 11,000 years ago is a relatively new aspect of archaeological research. So far, researchers have been able to find traces of children learning how to make stone tools and perhaps training to become artists, but those items that we most strongly associate with childhood – toys – are yet to be located. That is, until now. New research exploring a culture that thrived throughout Western Europe between 21,000 and 14,000 years ago – known to archaeologists as the Magdalenian – has begun shedding light on what children’s toys may have looked like during this early period. The Magdalenian is known for its magnificent and skilful artistic tradition, which not only included the rock art of Lascaux Photographs by M.C. Langley with permission of MAN, St-Germain-en-Laye 14 | | MARCH/APRIL 2018 (and elsewhere) but also carved figurines and richly decorated tools made from reindeer antler, mammoth ivory and bone. Most importantly, their archaeological sites are often wellpreserved, allowing researchers to gain insights into aspects of prehistoric life that are not always available. Consequently, this culture is a great place to start looking for traces of children in the deep past. Finding Toys from the Deep Past How does one go about finding out what kids 20,000 years ago played with? One way is to look at something more recent that shares similarities with the prehistoric case study we are wanting to learn about. In this case, we look at what modern kids growing up in communities whose economy is based on hunting-andgathering (like the Magdalenians) spend their time doing. This approach works because child psychologists and anthropologists alike have discovered that playing with toys is a truly universal aspect of culture: everyone does it, everywhere. Therefore, how today’s hunter-gatherer kids play is likely to be very similar to what kids in similar situations did thousands of years ago. Anthropologists working in fishing, hunting and gathering communities across the globe report little boys practising with tiny hunting equipment either made by themselves or their relatives, while girls practise the skills they will need to become fully functioning members of Possible miniature bâtons percé (spearstraightener or thong-smoother) against a full-size example, both of which were recovered from Magdalenian levels at Isturitz, France. Photograph by M.C. Langley with permission of MAN, St-Germain-en-Laye their community – such as basket-making and collecting food – using tiny versions of the tools used in these activities. Both boys and girls are observed making figures of animals, people and everyday items from mud, as well as playing with dolls or animal figurines made and given to them by their families. Similarly, researchers have frequently noted that kids are often amused by small animals, such as puppies, birds, lizards and monkeys. Does some of this sound familiar? Even in modern Western societies kids enjoy mimicking their parents in their everyday activities, such as driving the car, cleaning the house or mowing the lawn. Who hasn’t made figures out of mud or plasticine? And who hasn’t enjoyed playing with a four- A cave lion carved on reindeer antler exhibits a high polish due to extensive handling. This was recovered from the Magdalenian footed family member? No matter where or when a child grows levels at Isturitz, France. up, there appears to be many common activities indulged in at one time or another. You see, Magdalenian archaeological sites have produced Palaeolithic Playthings quite a number of beautifully crafted animal and human figures According to this theory, archaeologists should have found made in reindeer antler, bone, mammoth ivory and stone. The miniature weapons and tools – tiny copies of the everyday tools quality of the craftsmanship and the time needed to create their parents were using, clay figurines and dolls – in Magdale- these small items have led researchers to presume that they nian sites. And guess what? They have – except such finds have were made for special tasks – specifically, the religious or spiralways been labelled as pieces of “portable art”. itual life of the community. Illustration: Tom Björklund MARCH/APRIL 2018 | | 15 Illustra tion: T This supposition is supported by the fact that most of the figurines depict animals important to Ice Age life – important food animals or creatures likely respected for their strength and power – such as horses, reindeer, cave lions, cave bears and mammoths. However, these are the same animals likely to be selected for children’s toys. om Bjö rklund Moving back to the present, it was found that the figurines made for and by children were usually of the animals that they knew best – animals commonly hunted or encountered in their landscape. So, it makes sense that Magdalenian children would want to play with toy reindeer and horses (their main prey and an source of important furs and antler for making tools), as well as cave lions (likely a respected and perhaps feared hunter). So why can’t some of these figurines have been made for children as toys? The answer is they very well could have, but before the 1980s archaeologists were not even looking to find evidence for children’s activities or their possessions in the prehistoric archaeological record. When such items were discovered, the idea that they could have once belonged to a child was not even considered. Indeed, it was commonly felt that information regarding past children’s lives was inaccessible to researchers, and consequently children were effectively erased from prehistory. Tiny Tools? The Magdalenians were hunters of reindeer and horses. Their sites are full of the these bones, which is not surprising when one creature provided not only meat to feed the family but also furs with which to create warm clothing and tents, sinews for sewing and hafting, and bone to manufacture tools necessary to survive the Ice Age. This culture is also famous for the vast array of spearpoints and other technologies made from reindeer antler. Experiments with antler spearpoints has found that they are extremely efficient at taking down prey and significantly more durable than those made from stone. They were central to the toolkit of the hunter and, given this importance and what we know from recent hunter-gatherers, it would follow that children would spend a good part of their time learning how to use such weapons. A fragment of a decorated antler spear point from the Magdalenian levels of Isturitz, France. Photograph by M.C. Langley with permission of MAN, St-Germain-en-Laye 16 | | MARCH/APRIL 2018 A near-complete barbed spearpoint made in reindeer antler from the Magdaleian site of Laurgerie-Basse, France. A clay animal figurine from the Yarmukian culture (c. 8000 BP) of Israel. These artefacts have been interpreted in several ways including as children’s toys and as adult ritual votives. Photograph by M. C. Langley with permission of MAN, St-Germain-en-Laye. Photograph by Y. Garfinkel, Shaar Hagolan Expedition, Hebrew University of Jerusalem However, no tiny versions of antler points were found among the thousands of broken spear points recovered from Magdalenian sites across France and southern Germany I looked at as part of my doctoral research. However, I did find several points that had been badly repaired and catastrophically broken, and these may represent children playing with discarded adult-sized weapon tips. I also found a small antler tool featuring a single hole at one end, a line incised down its length and roughly worked extremities. With the exception of its small size, this artefact from the French site of Isturitz bears remarkable similarity to what are commonly known as bâtons percés, a tool type thought to have been used either as a spear straightener or in making leather thongs. Straightening wooden poles to make spears and lengths of leather thongs for tying together various technological elements would have been projects frequently undertaken in a Palaeolithic camp. Consequently, we might expect the small children in such a camp to want to imitate these activities which preoccupied their parents. Thus, this small artefact might be one of the first items identified as a possible children’s toy – in this case, a toy spear-straightener or thong-smoother. Finding the Children of the Ice Age Now that the groundwork for identifying possible children’s toys from such remote periods has been laid down, archaeologists will be able to go back over their assemblages to look for similar items. Once found, we will then be able to paint Ice Age children back into our understanding of life some 20,000 years ago. Obviously, much research remains to be undertaken, but at least now archaeologists have begun searching. Dr Michelle Langley is an Australian Research Council DECRA Research Fellow in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University. Excavations at the Magdalenian site of Peyre Blanque, located in the Ariège, France. Photograph by M. C. Langley MARCH/APRIL 2018 | | 17