PREHISTORIC RITES OF PASSAGE - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF TRANSEGALITARIAN HUNTER-GATHERERS

Footprints and handprints clearly indicate that adolescents took part in the cave rituals of Upper Paleolithic Europe. We argue that the cav e paintings were created by transegalitarian hunter-gatherers. To bett er understand the significance of adolescent involvement in cave ritua ls, we undertook a study of maturation events involving rituals among ethnographic transegalitarian hunter-gatherers. Our results show that the costs associated with al of these events increase as social comple xity increases and as the rank of individuals within communities incre ases. Furthermore, on the basis of the comparative ethnographic eviden ce and archaeological parameters pertaining to the different types of ritual events, we argue that the presence of adolescents in Upper Pale olithic caves suggests the initiation of elite children to secret soci eties. (C) 1997 Academic Press.