Based on archeological findings, many of the prehistoric finger paintings found by archeologists on cave walls were actually drawn by the same demographic currently renowned for its finger painting prowess: children.
But the question of why these kids were brought deep into treacherous caves in order to contribute to these wall paintings is still disputed
A possible answer has now been suggested by a team of Tel Aviv University prehistoric archeology researchers.
“Next to many cave paintings, there is clear evidence of the presence of children as young as two years old. So far, most hypotheses have focused on the educational aspect — learning the community’s traditions and customs,” state the researchers.
“However, we believe that children also played a unique cultural role in these caves: young children were credited with special qualities in the spiritual world, enabling them to communicate with entities from the beyond – which were believed to be accessible from the depths of the cave.”
The study, published in the journal Arts from MDPI, was conducted by Ella Assaf, Yafit Kedar, and Prof. Ran Barkai. This research follows previous work by the team exploring cave art as expressions of cosmological approaches and relationships between humans and various entities.
“Based on extensive studies about children in indigenous societies, we understand that the world of childhood differs from that of adults,” Assaf explains. “Indigenous cultures worldwide have viewed children as ‘active agents’—mediators between this world and entities inhabiting the natural world, the underworld and the cosmos.”
Barkai adds that many hunter-gatherer societies regarded caves as gateways to the underworld.
“Young children were perceived as liminal beings—belonging to both the realm they had recently left before birth and the world they currently inhabit. Thus, small children were considered particularly suited to bridging the gap between worlds and delivering messages to non-human entities.”
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