Children are central to the evolutionary process, and yet it is rare for paleoanthropologists to discuss the nature of lived Paleolithic childhoods. Most, instead, stop after the analysis of skeletal remains. Growing Up in the Ice Age, by April Nowell, is an important book that engages with the more difficult question of what Plio-Pleistocene children's lives were actually like by using a holistic and interdisciplinary approach. In addition to her own archaeological expertise, Nowell relies on the most recent research by biological anthropologists, primatologists, geneticists, ethnographers, psychologists, and other scientists. She weaves the latest data and theoretical perspectives seamlessly into a rich and nuanced description of what life might have been like for children and adolescents during various phases of evolution.
The book's breadth of topics is unusual, as is its range of methodologies. Nowell seems to bring every available tool to the table. I was amazed at how much she was able to figure out about children in the very distant past. Although some have written off Paleolithic childhood, in the final chapter Nowell argues that far from being irrelevant or unimportant, children are the “drivers of human evolution,” and this book proves her point.
It is suitable for a wide audience. Specialists will find both the copious citations and comprehensive appendices containing descriptions of subadult fossil remains and associated artifacts useful for their own research. Nonspecialists, including nonarchaeologists, will find the book interesting, holding to high scientific standards, yet comprehensible. The writing is clear and straightforward with brief explanations provided for potentially unfamiliar terms, methods, and theoretical perspectives.
In Chapter 1 (“Toward an Archaeology of Paleolithic Children”), Nowell meticulously sets the stage for her discussion of children in the Paleolithic with a review of basic archaeological theory that explains such core issues as formation processes, population estimates using human remains, and the definition of affordances. Her brief contextualization of previous research on past children shows that archaeological and ethnographic studies have clearly demonstrated the centrality of children in past cultures, including their participation in work and politics, their importance for cultural and biological continuity, and their ability to exhibit agency.
Chapter 2 (“Birth and the Paleolithic ‘Family’”) uses a life history approach that is informed by an understanding of the difference between R and K strategies and that relies on the available fossil evidence to trace changes in the gestation, birth, and infant care, particularly weaning and carrying. After a discussion of the role of alloparenting and specifically grandmothers, Nowell uses the available evidence in the context of primatology and ethnography to construct models of the family for ancestral groups from Australopithecines on.
The activities of children are the focus of Chapter 3 (“Toys, Burials, and Secret Places”). Objects tentatively identified as toys, images of children captured in engravings and figurines, and burials all provide clues. Children's use of the environment is shown by deposits indicating novice knappers, and by foot- and handprints and finger fluting. Chapter 4 (“Stone Tools, Skill Acquisition and Learning a Craft”) continues with a consideration of children's activities and delves more deeply into one of the activities common to all children, learning new skills. It focuses on stone tool manufacture, given that lithics are abundant in Paleolithic sites and the identification of novice knappers has been the subject of much research.
Nowell, one of the pioneers in the consideration of the role of storytelling in the past, argues that art, music, dance, and storytelling were important components of children's experience from early in our evolution. Given that cave painting and portable art both come to the fore during the Upper Paleolithic, much of the content of Chapter 5 (“Children, Oral Storytelling and the Paleolithic ‘Arts’”) comes from later time periods and from ethnographic materials. She finds evidence for children as artists and well as audience. Nowell is also at the forefront in the explicit inclusion of adolescence as a life stage (Chapter 6, “Adolescence in the Ice Age”). Of particular interest are her discussions of the adaptive value of an adolescent stage and the adaptive relevance of age-determined variation in sleep patterns.
I was so enticed by Growing Up in the Ice Age that I immediately began to think about how I could use it as a text for upper-division students. It is a strong argument for the power of a multidisciplinary approach, compiling a shocking amount of information about Plio-Pleistocene children while sticking to the highest standards in terms of scientific interpretation. Furthermore, it is simply a good read.
