Únětické sekeromlaty se sedlovitým žlábkem v Čechách

Being a Beaker child.
The position of children in Late Eneolithic society.

Jan Turek

Key words: Childhood, Gender, Burial rites, Corded Ware, Bell Bakers

Within social archaeology, great heed has been taken of the symbolic expression of male and female phenomena in prehistoric society. Examination of burial rites supplies much evidence of the structuring of prehistoric society, as well as the social positions of both sexes. Analysis of the funerary practices of the Late Eneolithic cemeteries associated with the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker material cultures (3rd millennium BC) in the Czech Republic provides a model of the basic differentiation of society which they represent. The explanation of such social differentiation may be seen in the development of the division of labour between men and women, probably caused by progressive changes in the system of agriculture and food production (the introduction of ploughing implements and team).

In this paper, I will discuss the social role of children in these societies. There are several questions to be examined. For instance, at what age was a child accepted as a regular member of society, including the right to be properly buried? Were the differences of the children's sexes explained in a symbolic way? Was there any social need to reflect the social status in childhood? Is the composition of the artefactual assemblage in children graves different? Are children's burials accompanied by special types of grave goods?

The evidence for the Late Neolithic burial rite, tested by analysis, can be considered as a reflection of social diversification between members of society, including children. We have evidence of children's burials accompanied by stone working tools and weapons of clearly symbolic meaning. In some particular cases, we have evidence for the burials of very young boys (from half a year to 6 years old) accompanied by battle axes or mace heads. Because some other male burials of children of this age do not include any of these symbolic artefacts, it can be assumed that this group of "rich" boy burials may well represent socially-favoured individuals of some sort; this could, for example, be first-born sons, the potential heirs of social status within a family or tribe (system of ascribed hereditary wealth).

Every one of us has the experience of childhood. The memory of our childhood may be more or less misty, idealised or interpreted in adult terms, however every-one's adult life, personality and habits are based deep in our childhood.

In the past, childhood in Prehistory and Middle Ages was often described as a nightmare full of infanticide, abandonment, terrorising and sexual abuse (de MAUSE 1974, 1), however this is not a completely true picture of it. Childhood could also be the most beautiful stage of human ontogeny. It is the time when the young mind acts like a sponge in receiving and absorbing information from the surrounding world. The happy, and seemingly peaceful time of child's play, is in fact a very dynamic and important period when a little person is labouring to grow up. It is the time when we discover the challenge and beauty of being. Childhood is the most far-reaching, dynamic and exciting stage of human development in whatever period the child lives.

Why, then, are children missing in our reconstruction of the past? Are they really so invisible in the Archaeological record? Is it merely due to the lack of an appropriate methodology in archaeological research? In this paper I am going to investigate the evidence of Late Eneolithic funerary practices in an attempt to reconstruct the social position of children.

The Archaeology of Childhood and Gender studies are, as yet, unknown in Czech Archaeology. Gender in an archaeological context was only considered in the analysis of burial rites of those periods, where the symbolic sexual distinction was part of funerary practices (HAVEL 1978; MATOUŠEK 1982; TUREK 1990 etc.) Social Archaeology was traditionally concerned with the reconstruction of society and the social relations of adults who have political and social control over the production of material culture and social ideologies. Therefore the life and activities of children seemed to be unimportant to the function of adult society. The childcare, status and standards of upbringing, however characterise society and determine its development. Grete LILLEHAMMER (1989, 93) states that "The time and state of being a child varies between cultures, depending on social, economic, and technological factors".

We must remember that the attitude of our current society towards children is mainly a product of the development in the last hundred years. The growing awareness of children and their improved social status compared to adults are as a result of basic changes in the western family life, conditions of living, lower birth rates and widespread education. Also, the concept of smaller families, where children are cared for and brought-up by their parents, is very modern. Traditionally children lived within an extended family, where larger numbers of adult relatives and neighbours (kinship) brought them up. Within such a community older children were often responsible for the younger ones.

One of the few archaeological studies relating to the status of male, female and child burials in the context of Neolithic Europe, was published by Alexander HÄUSLER in 1966. In his article he summarises gendered funerary practices and the frequency of child burials within different prehistoric cultures in Europe, in comparison to the evidence of ethnographic observations world-wide. Unfortunately, this work remained isolated and the Central European archaeological research was concerned with different topics other than the Gender Archaeology. Meanwhile, within the Western European Social Archaeology, the background for the Archaeology of Childhood was gradually developing. A. S. GRÄSLUND (1973) analysed the position of children within the Viking cemetery at Birka and Susan SHENNAN (1975), within the social interpretation of the Early Bronze Age cemetery at Branč, focussed also on the position of children and commented on the groups of rich burials of girls. The development in Archaeology of Childhood in 1980s was summarised by G. LILLEHAMMER (1989). Since then, research on children and their world became a common subject of specialised archaeological volumes (such as MOORE & SCOTT 1997, or Archaeological Review from Cambridge 13:2, 1994, published 1996) and conferences (1997 TAG in Bournemouth - session on The archaeology of Infancy and Infanticide, organised by E. Scott, chaired by J. Sofaer-Derevenski and 1998 4th EAA Annual meeting in Gothenburg, session on The Archaeology of Childhood, organised and chaired by J. Sofaer-Derevenski).

To evaluate the status and position of children in past societies and find the world of the child in the archaeological record, we have to develop a relevant methodology and focus on specific sources of data.

One obvious type of artefacts, which may be connected to the child's world, are toys. Games and play help children to learn from the environment and practise the adult activities and technologies. Unfortunately, within Czech Archaeology very small attention was paid to the examination and classification of prehistoric toys. Some artefacts, such as tiny "doll's pots" (see. Fig. 2:3,4) found within settlement sites of Iron Age (DRESLEROVÁ - BEECH 1995, Fig. 33:411) and Roman/Migration Periods (DROBERJAR - TUREK 1997, Fig. 5:3), or Hallstatt period rattles (Fig. 2:2) were very probably toys. Some other possible toys were however, interpreted as idols, ritual cultic objects. These are, for instance, clay figures of animals (Middle Eneolithic PAVELČÍK 1982, or Early Bronze Age PLEINEROVÁ 1961, cf. in this paper Fig. 2:1). Another possible toy may be demonstrated in the set of female figures with little chairs, tables, dishes and grinding stones? (see Fig. 3), from the Neolithic site of Ovčarovo in Bulgaria (TODOROVA et al 1983, Fig. 89). Because the context of the Ovcarovo set was not clearly indicative of any kind of ritual activity, its interpretation as Neolithic "doll house" may be as valid as the cultic-one.

Children obviously didn’t have any influence over the quantity or nature of grave goods that they were buried with, the decision and choices must have been made by parents or adults within the community. Child burials are rarely accompanied with toys, instead these are usually found within settlement sites. The assemblage within Corded Ware burials was selected using the same principles as for adults. Different gendered objects accompanied girl’s and boy’s burials. These were however, adult symbols predicting a child’s supposed future role in society.

Evidence of children may be found in the specific miniaturised pots, that appear within some child burial assemblages of the Corded Ware period in Bohemia (BUCHVALDEK - KOUTECKÝ 1972). Similar "pygmy cups" appear in the Bronze Age child graves in Ireland and Netherlands (DONNABHÁIN & BRINDLEY 1989). These miniatures of adult types of pottery probably reflected children's capability and helped them to adjust to the social norms of adult society (see Fig. 6). Another type of symbolic artefacts are miniature or real size battle-axes made of soft stone (see Fig. 4), these were found within some Corded Ware burial assemblages (Prague-Jinonice BUCHVALDEK - KOVÁŘÍK 1993) Association of these symbolic artefacts with children or sub-adult individuals was not yet clearly proved. These miniature models of battle-axes might have been symbolic equivalent of the prestigious, real size, artefacts within the living society, or symbolic funerary substitute of the real battle-axes that were supposed to remain in the world of living.

Evidence of children's activity may possibly be traced within the context of settlement sites. It may be the stone waste material from flint-knapping. The specialists on lithic technology may recognise the working waste from unskilled learning individuals (FINLAY 1997), or the influence of child’s play on the spatial patterning of artefacts (HAMMOND & HAMMOND 1981). The impact of children has rarely been considered in our models of prehistoric division of labour. However, from the Ethnographic studies (e.g. WHITTING & WHITTING 1975), we know that children in pre-industrial societies were maintaining a wide spectrum of domestic tasks and it is only recently that our Western society has stopped using child labour.

The palaeodemographic studies show that more than 50% of living populations were children (HÄUSLER 1966, NEUSTUPNÝ 1983). The infant mortality in pre-industrial societies is very high, however this is not represented in the archaeological record from most of the prehistoric periods. A. HÄUSLER (1966) made a comparison of the percentages of child burials within cemeteries of different Neolithic cultural groups in Europe. Fifty-three child burials were excavated within the Baden Culture cemetery at Budakalász (Hungary) which is 42% of all burials found on this site. For some other periods there are much lower rates of child burials, such as in the Linear pottery cemeteries in Germany. The lack of child burials in some prehistoric periods used to be explained by gracility and faster decomposition of child remains, as well as by the presumption that some child graves were too shallow to survive. I presume that the main reason for lack of evidence for child burials was an alternative way of disposing of their remains, which is however invisible in the archaeological record. A. HÄUSLER (1966) provided geographically very wide ethnographic review of child burial customs. This shows that in many pre-industrial societies dead children were not buried at the community graveyard, but disposed of in a different way, such as placed in the cavity of trees, bushes or in a river, etc.

Different treatment seems to have been given to children younger than two years of age. In many societies they were not considered to be full members of the community. This was mainly due to the very high mortality rate in this stage of childhood. In some societies infanticide took place immediately after birth or within the first two years of a child's life. Infanticide seems shocking and completely unacceptable for our society. We should, however remember that this is only a matter of social acceptability, as infanticide is nothing more than an artificial abortion extended into the post-natal stage and that abortion is, with some exceptions, acceptable in our current Western Society.

In the 3rd millennium BC, some regions of Europe shared common elements of material culture, as well as similar burial rites. Vast areas of central, northern and eastern Europe were connected by the Corded Ware (CW) Culture (Single Grave) and subsequently the Bell Beaker (BB) phenomenon occurred within the territory of central, southern and western Europe. Both of these phenomena represent certain uniformity in their material culture, demonstrated in a specific range of symbolic, prestige goods that appear mainly in the funerary contexts.

The principles of the CW and BB burial rites arises from the same symbolic system probably reflecting a similar social and economic background of the Late Eneolithic communities. In the following paragraphs we are going to review and compare the system of CW and BB burial rites (see fig. 5).

Corded Ware cemeteries in Central Europe are represented mainly by single inhumation burials in the contracted position. Multiple burials are rare, represented mainly by the dual “antipode“ burials. The number of graves including more than two persons is very small (cf. TUREK 1999 in press). CW female burials are usually placed on the left side, orientated by the head to the. For male burials the typical orientation is to the west, with the body placed on the right side. As a result of this practice all burials of both sexes face to the south (see Fig. 5:3,4). This may have a certain symbolic significance relating also to the location of some cemeteries within the landscape. A common location of CW cemeteries is on the edge of terraces or slopes, mostly orientated to the south-east. The similar position of cemeteries appear to be prevalent in the BB period, but preferring north-east slopes (TUREK 1996, TUREK-PEŠKA, in press). This may represent some ritual commitment to the direction of sunrise, however, the explanation of the wind-sheltered location of near by habitation may also be considered. Possible evidence for such a solar cult might be seen in the shell disc amulets with the motif of double crosses or concentric circles (see Fig. 5:3c), which may be interpreted as symbols of the solar wheel. The same motif also appears on some of the V-perforated buttons of the subsequent Bell Beaker period (see Fig. 5:1b and Fig. 7:4). The BB females were usually buried on their right side with head orientated to the south and male opposite on their left side, head orientated to the north, therefore people buried in the Beaker period were facing east (see Fig. 5:1,2).

One of the apparently highly symbolic elements within the Corded Ware burial rite is the position of the buried person’s arms (Cf. TUREK, in press 1999, Fig. 2). However, based on the analysis of Corded Ware burial rites (TUREK, 1987; 1990), this phenomenon was not related to distinctions between sex and age groups, nor did it appear to be related to the amount of grave goods. The positioning of the arms continued also in the BB period, even though the number of varieties decreased (cf. HAVEL, 1978, Fig. 3). Although this phenomenon may well relate to an alternative social category/identity, given our limited knowledge, the meaning of the symbolism in the position of the arms is unfortunately currently impossible to explain.

Male and female burials appear to be accompanied by different "gendered" artefacts. Female burials are assembled with necklaces made of perforated animal teeth (see HAVEL, 1981, 70, evidence for use of wolf, dog, wild cat and fox teeth in the context of Corded Ware burial), as well as imitation teeth made from bone. Necklaces were also made from small perforated circular discs of fresh water shell. Another artefact appearing in female graves is the afore mentioned shell “solar“ disc symbol. The pottery assemblage commonly found in female burials consists of ovoid pots and large amphora storage vessels these, however, also appear in male graves. Male burial assemblages may well reflect the social power symbolically represented by weapons such as battle-axes or mace heads or axes, these were in the symbolism of BB funerary practices replaced with copper daggers and archery equipment (see Fig 5:2b-e and 7:2, 7-12) . The CW funerary pottery attributed to males is represented by beakers that have been decorated with a cord impression, or so-called herring-bone motif, etc. Typical female pots in the CW period were those of an ovoid shape (Fig. 5:3). In both periods the funerary ceramics were different to those from domestic-settlement contexts.

Beakers are not exclusively male artefacts even though the majority of them were found in graves of CW men. Beakers make 19% of the pottery assemblages found within male graves and only 5% in female graves (TUREK, 1987, 38). A similar observation was made by J. HAVEL (1978, Fig. 5) in the case of the BB, where 20% of decorated beakers were associated with men and 11% with women. At this point it should be stressed that “gendered“ artefacts should not be simply read only as a reflection of social category of the deceased person, but in some cases as a symbolic demonstration of the relations between the buried individual and other members of the community. Some artefacts may therefore rather represent the mourners and their relationship with the dead. A beaker or copper dagger in a BB female grave may therefore be a symbolic gift from a father or husband, rather than a reflection of the association of an individual with a particular artefact in day to day practice. N. BRODIE (1997, 300-301) observed that: “Upon the occasion of burial it might have been the domestic duty of female relatives to provide the deceased with a serving food and drink, together sometimes with their ceramic container.“ On the other hand: “Male relatives would be expected to provide weapons, ornaments or tools“.

The CW and BB funerary practices seems to be more likely a symbolic reflection of the division of labour within the family and a reflection of the different social status of men, women and children. The individuality expressed within the context of a single burial is indicative of an individuals association with a particular social category rather than a celebration of someone's special skills or status achieved during their lifetime. The composition of the CW funeral assemblages seems to be quite uniform, and also the number of items within the assemblage only rarely exceeds a certain amount (average number of artefacts in graves of adult male is 3.7, in graves of adult female it is 3.4 and in children graves 2.7).

The symbolic expression of the male and female phenomenon in burial rites probably reflects different social roles for each sex within society. The evidence for the Corded Ware burial rite may also be considered as a reflection of social diversification between members of society, including children.

Despite the perceived invisibility of children in the archaeological record (cf. SOFAER-DEREVENSKI 1996) the analysis of the CW and BB burial rites in Bohemia and Moravia (HAVEL 1978; NEUSTUPNÝ 1973; TUREK 1987; 1990) provided findings that may help to evaluate the position of children with in the Late Eneolithic society. It seems very likely that the main feature of the CW and BB burial rites, which is the symbolic differentiation of the male and female distinction even applied to child burials. The sexual dimorphism of sub-adult skeletal remains is not developed enough to enable us to determine their sex. However, the position of the body in the grave, head orientation and "gendered" grave goods seem to keep the same system of sexual distinction. Despite a high mortality rate, expected in the age category infans I (0-6 months, cf. NEUSTUPNÝ 1983), which is well documented for the pre-industrial societies, there is lack of archaeological evidence for burials of these children. Within the Bohemian and Moravian CW cemeteries only four burials of this age category were recorded. One was a new-born child buried together with its mother (see fig. 5:3 here of grave from Blšany HNÍZDOVÁ, ŠIMŮNEK, 1955). The majority of the youngest children, which were deceased, were probably disposed of in an alternative way, as documented by various ethnographical observations (such as the tribes of Dajaga and Nandi in Kenya, see HOLÝ, 1956, for more references see HÄUSLER, 1966). It may well be possible that children under certain age were not fully accepted as members of a community and therefore did not have the right to a proper ritual funeral. The situation changes in the age category infans II (6 month - 5 years), specifically from the age of 2 years appears an increase in the number of child burials (Cf. Fig. 8) Until this age children are particularly vulnerable to dehydration due to infection (S. Leach pers. comm.). This is not an abnormal mortality pattern even in the present third world countries. During this age category a vital changes happens in a child's life, a child begins to be able to communicate verbally, also the ability to walk unaided and eat solid food as an addition to breast-feeding. In some primitive societies it is also believed that children until certain age (usually 2 years) have no sole (cf. HÄUSLER, 1966). This presumption justifies for example infanticide or non-ritual methods of the disposing children remains. In some regions children get named only after this period of "natural selection", when their chance of survival increases. The pottery assemblages of child burials in the preceding CW period seems to reflect their age and some of the pots are miniatures of the real functional vessels (BUCHVALDEK & KOUTECKÝ, 1972, TUREK, 1987; 1990; 1998). Similar observations were made also in the context of Bronze Age child burials in Ireland ("pygmy cups" - DONNABHÁIN & BRINDLEY, 1990). The examination of the volume of BB cups from north-west Bohemia provided evidence of possible utilitarian division according to their use (type of drink?) or user (TUREK, 1998, 108-109, Fig. 5). However, it is important to put this data into the context of the age and sex category of the persons buried with those cups, such as it was done with the British and Irish Beakers (CASE, 1995; BRODIE, 1998, Fig. 2). Unfortunately the majority of the cups from north-west Bohemia are missing records of their context due to the early date of their discovery.

It also appears that the CW child burials in Bohemia and Moravia were accompanied more often by bowls (every fourth burial of the total number of child graves) than the burials of adult persons (every thirteenth burial). This may be a reflection of the practical use of bowls in the sense of specific consumption of food in this age category.

Infanticide of one of the sexes is in some tribal societies caused by uneven parental investments, depending on the socio-economic conditions of parents or all community. Such a pattern was documented for example for the pastoral tribe of Mukogodo in Kenya, which has a lower socio-economic status, than other local tribes. Because girls have a better chance of getting married out of the tribe they have a greater reproductive potential for the Mukogodo community. Therefore Mukogodo girls are better cared for than boys. This distinction in the parental investment however does not cause infanticide, but for example better medical care for girls (CRONK, 1989).

In order to examine the possible preference of one of the sexes in the context of CW and BB burial rites we have compared the number of children buried in male and female positions. It seems to be well documented that the same positions used for adults for symbolic distinction of the gender of deceased person ware used also in the case of child burials. The number of CW girls and boys buried in Bohemia and Moravia is almost equal, 21 girls (42.9%) and 19 boys (38.8%) plus 9 child burials in sexually non-diagnostic positions (49 burials in total, see Fig. 9). There is a similar record for BB child burials in Bohemia. 24 of a total number of 27 children were buried in diagnostic positions, 13 (54%) in male position and 11 in a female position (46%). Similarly in CW there is almost an equal number of child burials in the female position and male position in Central Germany (SIEMEN, 1992, pp. 231, Fig. 1a). It seems that boys were buried in equal numbers to girls in both periods. The only disproportion seems to be in Moravian BB cemeteries, where 23 of the total number of 25 children were buried in diagnostic position, 17 (74%) in a male position and 6 (26%) in a female position and in CW. This record challenge any assumptions that sexually biased infanticide existed in the Late Eneolithic period in Central Europe. A similar balance seems to exist in the number of grave goods found within male and female child burials in the context of Bohemian and Moravian CW cemeteries (girls seems to be slightly richer, cf. Fig. 10). This raises the question: Is there any evidence of differential social status of certain children within the Late Eneolithic burial rites?

Excavations have revealed that stone tools or weapons accompany some of the children’s burials, mainly buried in male position (see. Fig. 11). In the context of children’s graves these artefacts had clearly symbolic significance, which may well be anticipating their social roles as adults. In some particular cases, in Bohemian and Moravian CW there is evidence for the burials of very young boys (six months to six years old), accompanied by hammer-axes or mace heads. Similar observations were made for the CW period in Central Germany (SIEMEN, 1989). In Moravia there is for example the burial of a five year old child from Dětkovice (District Prostějov, ČIŽMÁŘOVÁ, ŠMÍD, 1976) with a hammer-axe, or in Bohemia the burial of a six year old child in grave 130/63 from Vikletice (District Chomutov) that included a mace head and also grave 47/64 in the same cemetery that contained a burial of a child in the age category infans II accompanied by a battle-axe (BUCHVALDEK, KOUTECKÝ, 1970). Similar evidence exist for the Moravian group of BB, where the grave of a 9-10 year old boy (?) accompanied by copper dagger, golden and copper spirals and amber beads was excavated at Lechovice (District Znojmo) or child cremation burial (53/80-II) from Radovesice (District of Teplice), where flint arrowheads, stone wristguard, bow shaped amulet and V-perforated buttons were found (see Fig 7).

Child burials accompanied by objects that may be interpreted as symbols of wealth and social status do not reflect prehistoric reality of the social relations, simply because these children died so young. Because other male child burials do not include any of such symbolic artefacts, it can be assumed that this group of sub-adult male burials may represent socially favoured individuals of some sort. They might have been firstborn sons potential heirs of social status and wealth within family or of a whole community (?). Similar observations were made by Susan SHENNAN (1975) at the cemetery of the Nitra Culture at Branč (south-west Slovakia). Where a small group of sub-adult women were buried with rich copper necklaces and other jewellery. On the other hand the majority of girl's burials on this site were assembled with ordinary artefacts. S. Shennan assumes that this evidence may suggest the existence of the System of ascribed hereditary wealth. It may be well possible that this is evidence of the initial stages of the development of social differentiation, which carried on within the Bronze Age communities. Such social differentiation might have been as a result of progressive changes in the system of agriculture and food production, namely the introduction of ploughing implements, teams and Secondary Products Revolution (NEUSTUPNÝ, 1967; SHERRATT, 1981).

Au Chalcolithique récent on assiste à la disparition des pratiques funéraires collectives et la généralisation des pratiques funéraires individuelles. Des changements se présentent aussi dans la structure d’habitat ainsi que dans la superficie des sites d’habitat. Un réseau des petits villages dispersés ne comportant que quelques familles remplacent les grandes sites centralisés du Néolithique et du Chalcolithique ancien. Des règles strictes concernants les pratiques funéraires apparaissent. Du mobilier symbolique (objets prestigieux) est associé aux sépultures d'adultes et à celles des enfants. Ces phénomènes peuvent être considérés comme l'expression d’un statut social et son acquisition par héritage. Cela nous permet de supposer une différenciation sociale plus profonde au Chalcolithique récent.

Analýza pohřebních zvyklostí v období závěru eneolitu v Čechách a na Moravě reprezentuje model prvotní společenské diferenciace mezi členy komunit včetně dětí. S poznáním fenoménu dětství souvisí otázky věku kdy bylo dítě přijímáno za plnoprávného člena společnosti, zda byly rozdíly v pohlaví dětí rovněž symbolicky reflektovány v pohřebním ritu a zda existovala potřeba demonstrovat společenský status již v dětství? Je možné, že dětské pohřby provázené kamennými nástroji snad mohou být dokladem systému připsané dědičné moci.

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