I'm looking for archaeological examples of small arrangements of stones or anything else, which could have been made by children. Also, if anyone knows of small caches which are not straightforward in their interpretation -- that would be great to know about too. Such things are likely to have been interpreted as ritual -- which is fine -- and can be from any context.
Vous avez en cet article deux exemples des crânes empilés dans deux grottes
http://www.annalesfsu.ro/sitero/Tome_XVII_no.2/1MCarciumaru.pdf
Michelle, there are many Aboriginal sites in the Sydney region/Hawkesbury sandstone country that have lines of stones or small heaps of stones. They are often on engraving sites on the sandstone platforms.
If this is the sort of site you are after, let me know and I shall find some references.
Best wishes
Val
Michelle: It's well known about inukshuit for channelling caribou towards hunters. But these are generally waist-high or higher - the same for bison. But animals will also follow a line of single, surface stones that they can easily step over. Bryan.
As far as stone lines and stone zones that are not straight forward in their interpretation, Donald Johnson has several articles discussing potential causes from bioturbation, some at sites previously interpreted as anthropogenic. Here is a link to one such paper:
http://alliance.la.asu.edu/rockart/scans/GopherJohnsonLompoc.pdf
The Neolithic period in Britain has a lot of what are usually termed "placed deposits" or "structured deposition" which I guess you might also call caches.... 'Odd Deposits and Average Practice: A Critical History of the Concept of Structured Deposition' (2012) is a good place to start for a break down of the theories surrounding such practices, and it has a number of examples of British prehistoric sites also.
Dear Michelle - when we were working on the Messak Settafet (Fezzan, southern Libya) some years ago, we came across several arrangements of parallel stone/rock lines. They were too big/organised to look like children arrangements, though. I am in Turkana, and about to leave for camp, where there is no internet access, so if you would be interested in a photo or more information about these, let me know by Saturday! With best wishes, Marta
Thank you everyone for your useful suggestions! I'm still looking for arrangements or small camps that could have been made by children in play -- so any more ideas or thoughts would be great!
Hi Michelle,
Why small? My 7 year old moves the biggest rocks she can to make things that emulate adult play. I am often daunted by how large her school yard stone arrangements are. Peter
Good point Peter! Do you have any images you care to share with me?
In Greenland (and eastern Arctic) small stone built structures made by children are quite common. in particular models / play houses of winter dwellings, tents, kayaks. and the larger vessels called umiaks.
Jens,
Are they written up anywhere that I could read about?
In mesoamerican archaeology the arrangments of stones forming a line, a rectangle or a square are indication of walls, tombs or cists emerging from the debris of an ancient construction In these cases we are referring to formal architecture or even to domestic arrangements. I have not seen a feature that I could to think was made by children.
Out in the Plains of America, some researchers think that small stone circles outside of large stone circles (tipi rings) were play areas for children. I am not sure how solid or testable that is.
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