Learning through the Children: An Experimental Analysis to Investigate the Relation between Childhood Pottery Making Techniques and Social Learning Strategies

Summary

In Güner Coşkunsu’s The Archaeology of Childhood: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on an Archaeological Enigma, Kathryn Kamp has discussed the potential to conduct experimental archaeology to assess childhood practice. In this paper, we follow Kamp and propose the use of experimental studies to explore the relation between different social learning strategies and material interactions. We investigated the performances of youth participants making pottery. Three forms of social learning were observed: 1. Participants who made a bowl by copying a pre-made bowl made by the authors, 2. Participants who made a bowl while watching the authors make a bowl, and 3. Participants who made a bowl while the authors made a bowl and described the actions. The results demonstrate patterns of different mental processes, of which caused participants to apply different methods of bowl making. Rather than basing inferences of the past on assumptions of child performance, experimental studies provide a greater opportunity to develop a more concrete understanding of the material indicators that archaeologists identify to assess child performance. These questions help enhance our understanding of childcare practices and the roles of childhood agents in broader social milieus. As a result, we produce a refined understanding of the archaeological past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20422