Ages and Abilities: The Stages of Childhood and their Social Recognition in Prehistoric Europe and Beyond

Edited by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury Edited by Doris Pany-Kucera

Book cover: Ages and Abilities: The Stages of Childhood and their Social Recognition in Prehistoric Europe and Beyond

Extent: 264 pages

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing

Subjects: European Prehistory

Series: Childhood in the Past Monograph Series

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(October 2020)

ISBN: 9781789697681

6.93 x 9.84 inches

Price: $54.00

In stock

This volume explores social responses to stages of childhood from the late Neolithic to Classical Antiquity in Central Europe and the Mediterranean. Comparing osteological and archaeological evidence, as well as integrating images and texts, authors consider whether childhood age classes are archaeologically recognizable.


Ages and Abilities explores social responses to childhood stages from the late Neolithic to Classical Antiquity in Central Europe and the Mediterranean and includes cross-cultural comparison to expand the theoretical and methodological framework. By comparing osteological and archaeological evidence, as well as integrating images and texts, authors consider whether childhood age classes are archaeologically recognizable, at which approximated ages transitions took place, whether they are gradual or abrupt and different for girls and boys. Age transitions may be marked by celebrations and rituals; cultural accentuation of developmental stages may be reflected by inclusion or exclusion at cemeteries, by objects associated with childhood such as feeding vessels and toys, and gradual access to adult material culture. Access to tools, weapons and status symbols, as well as children’s agency, rank and social status, are recurrent themes. The volume accounts for the variability in how a range of chronologically and geographically diverse communities perceived children and childhood, and at the same time, discloses universal trends in child development in the (pre-)historic past.

Chapter 1: Introduction. Children’s developmental stages from biological, anthropological and archaeological perspectives – Katharina Rebay-Salisbury and Doris Pany-KuceraKathryn A. Kamp and John C. WhittakerEkaterina Alexandrova Stamboliyska-PetrovaDaniela KernLucie Vélová, Katarína Hladíková and Klaudia DaňováKatharina Rebay-Salisbury, with contributions by Patrik Galeta, Walther Parson, Doris Pany-Kucera, Michaela Spannagl-Steiner and Christina StroblEszter Melis, Tamás Hajdu, Kitti Köhler and Viktória KissDaria Ložnjak Dizdar and Petra Rajić ŠikanjićBeata Kaczmarekṣiḫru e Guruš/sal.Tur.tur – Nadia PezzullaElisa Perego, Veronica Tamorri and Rafael ScopacasaAnna SerraHanna AmmarAlexandra SyrogianniIrene Mañas Romero and José Nicolás Saiz López, Chapter 1: Introduction. Children’s developmental stages from biological, anthropological and archaeological perspectives – Katharina Rebay-Salisbury and Doris Pany-KuceraKathryn A. Kamp and John C. WhittakerEkaterina Alexandrova Stamboliyska-PetrovaDaniela KernLucie Vélová, Katarína Hladíková and Klaudia DaňováKatharina Rebay-Salisbury, with contributions by Patrik Galeta, Walther Parson, Doris Pany-Kucera, Michaela Spannagl-Steiner and Christina StroblEszter Melis, Tamás Hajdu, Kitti Köhler and Viktória KissDaria Ložnjak Dizdar and Petra Rajić ŠikanjićBeata Kaczmarekṣiḫru e Guruš/sal.Tur.tur – Nadia PezzullaElisa Perego, Veronica Tamorri and Rafael ScopacasaAnna SerraHanna AmmarAlexandra SyrogianniIrene Mañas Romero and José Nicolás Saiz López

  • Edited by Katharina Rebay-Salisbury
  • Edited by Doris Pany-Kucera

'...the volume fills a gap in the childhood archaeology literature and gives new archaeological perspectives on children's social status, a topic that remains understudied.'

— Melie Le Roy

'...the volume fills a gap in the childhood archaeology literature and gives new archaeological perspectives on children's social status, a topic that remains understudied.'

— Melie Le Roy