engleski

Children and Season in protohistoric settlements in the southern Carpathian Basin

The moon, the sun, the stars and water were the most important elements of the first calendars. They served to confirm and validate the seasons. They were also crucial for the main economic activities of the protohistoric communities in the Carpathian Basin. Agriculture was a major economic activity of the communities in the southern Carpathian Basin ; sowing and harvesting must have influenced the cycles and production of food. Traces of the participation of children in agricultural activities are very rare, but some traces in settlements indicate that children were involved from an early age in food preparation activities, from producing and collecting to storing and keeping food. Many scenes from the life cycle of a settlement have not been preserved, not even in the smallest archaeological traces, but certain objects make it possible to reconstruct the life in these cycles and the roles that the youngest community members had in these rhythms. Aside from the seasons that depended on weather and the environment, the settlements had their own life cycles, and the transfer of knowledge about these cycles had an important role in the common life of different generations. Children could take part in the everyday activities in the settlement, learning from adults and taking on various tasks suitable to their age – planting, sowing, scaring away birds, helping with the harvest, storing food, preparing meals. The finds from chosen protohistoric Bronze and Iron Age settlements in the southern Carpathian Basin can help us try to reconstruct these scenes from the settlements.

Bronze Age, settlement, children, seasonal activities

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