Where have all the children gone? The archaeology of childhood

Current images portray childhood as primarily a time of play and learning, de-emphasizing children's economic contributions and relegating them, like women, to the less-visible realm of the home. Ethnographic and historic lit erature amply demonstrates that age categories are constructs and, thus, ex hibit considerable temporal and cross-cultural variability. Nevertheless, a rchaeologists have tended to ignore prehistoric children, perhaps viewing t hem as only peripheral to control research concerns, or to treat them stere otypically. The archaeological record provides opportunities for the explor ation of numerous aspects of childhood and archaeologists are encouraged to respond to the challenge.