Skip to Main Content

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Childhood

Online ISBN:
9780191860782
Print ISBN:
9780199670697
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Childhood

Sally Crawford (ed.),
Sally Crawford
(ed.)
Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University
Find on

Sally Crawford, Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford (United Kingdom)

Dawn M. Hadley (ed.),
Dawn M. Hadley
(ed.)
Archaeology, University of Sheffield
Find on

Dawn M. Hadley, Professor of Medieval Archaeology, University of York (United Kingdom)

Gillian Shepherd (ed.)
Gillian Shepherd
(ed.)
Ancient Mediterranean Studies, La Trobe University
Find on

Gillian Shepherd, Director, A.D. Trendall Centre Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies, La Trobe University (Australia)

Published online:
7 June 2018
Published in print:
17 May 2018
Online ISBN:
9780191860782
Print ISBN:
9780199670697
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Real understanding of past societies is not possible without including children, and yet they have been strangely invisible in the archaeological record. In this volume, experts from around the world investigate childhood in the past, showing why it is important to understand childhood, why different cultures construct different ideas of how to rear children, what part children play in the community, and when and why childhood ends. The contributors also question why childhood has so often been missing from archaeological interpretation. Their answers are astonishing and thought provoking, challenging archaeologists to reconsider common assumptions about ways of looking at material culture in the past, and to reconsider the place of children in creating the archaeological record itself. However marginal the traces of children’s bodies and bricolage may seem compared to those of adults, archaeological evidence of children and childhood can be found in the most astonishing places and spaces, as well as in the most mundane. The archaeology of childhood is one of the most exciting and challenging areas for new discovery about past societies. Children are part of every human society, but childhood is a cultural construct. Each society develops its own idea about what a childhood should be, what children can or should do, and how they should be trained to take their place in the world. The archaeological record for children and childhood is regionally and chronologically diverse. Children are also increasingly being recognised as having played a part in creating the archaeological record itself. In this volume, the contributors ask questions about childhood—thresholds of age and growth, childhood in the material culture, the death of children, and the intersection of the childhood and the social, economic, religious, and political worlds of societies in the past. The volume spans the periods from earliest prehistory to the present day to provide a rich and nuanced perspective on childhood, revealing the commonalities and the very great differences in childhood experiences the world over.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close