Тель-Авивын их сургуулийн судлаачид 14,000 жилийн тэртээх агуйн зураг болон хүүхдийн ул мөрийг судалсны үндсэн дээр хүүхдүүд зөвхөн боловсрол эзэмших бус, оюун санааны онцгой үүрэг гүйцэтгэдэг байсан гэх таамаглалыг дэвшүүллээ.
Франц болон Испанийн нутгаас олдсон 400 орчим агуйн ханан дээрх зураг, гарын мөр, хөлийн ул мөрийг шинжлэхэд хоёроос арван хоёр хүртэлх насны хүүхдүүд оролцсон болохыг тогтоожээ. Судлаачид эдгээр хүүхдийг яагаад хүчилтөрөгч багатай, харанхуй, аюултай нөхцөлтэй агуйн гүн рүү дагуулж ордог байсныг тайлбарлахыг зорьсон байна. “Arts” сэтгүүлд нийтлэгдсэн уг судалгаанд хүүхдүүдийг дэлхий ертөнц болон нөгөө ертөнцийн оршихуйнуудын хооронд зуучлагч, харилцаа тогтоогч гэж үздэг байсан байж болзошгүй гэж үзжээ.
Уламжлалт нийгэмд хүүхдийг энэ ертөнцөөс нөгөө ертөнц рүү харилцаа тогтоох чадвартай “идэвхтэй оролцогч” хэмээн үздэг байсан нь олон соёлд түгээмэл байдаг. Судлаачдын үзэж буйгаар, эртний анчин түүвэрлэгчид агуйг далд ертөнцтэй холбогдох гарц хэмээн итгэж, шашны зан үйлийн хүрээнд хүүхдүүдийг орчлон ертөнцийн хүчнүүдтэй харилцахад ашигладаг байсан бололтой.
Энэхүү таамаглал нь хүүхдүүд төрөхийн өмнөх болон одоогийн ертөнцийн хооронд оршдог гэсэн эртний итгэл үнэмшилтэй холбоотой юм. Хэдийгээр өмнөх судалгаануудад агуйн зургийг зөвхөн мэдлэг дамжуулах, сургалтын зорилгоор ашигладаг байсан гэж үздэг байсан ч, шинэ судалгаа нь хүүхдийн оролцооны илүү гүн гүнзгий оюун санааны утгыг онцолж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Why would prehistoric communities lead children as young as two through dark, dangerous passages to reach painted cave walls? Researchers at Tel Aviv University think the answer goes beyond schooling. In a paper published in the journal Arts, they argue that young children were brought along because of a special spiritual role.
Cave art has long fascinated researchers. Around 400 caves containing it have been discovered, mainly in France and Spain, with the artwork dated between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago. Among the famous images are traces of people we rarely picture in this setting: children.
The hypothesis comes from Dr. Ella Assaf, Dr. Yafit Kedar and Professor Ran Barkai of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures. It follows their earlier work, which presented cave artworks as expressions of cosmological approaches, with emphasis on relationships between humans and various entities.
Small Hands, Solid Evidence
The study starts from what the caves actually show, and what they show is hard to ignore. “Next to many cave paintings, there is clear evidence of the presence of children as young as two years old,” the researchers explain.
“There is solid evidence of children’s participation in the artwork — handprints and finger paintings made by children aged two to twelve,” according to Dr. Ella Assaf.
Footprints and handprints of children have also been found in some caves, alongside those of adults. The finger paintings in Rouffignac Cave date to 14,000 to 20,000 years ago, and children’s footprints from Basura Cave are 14,000 years old.
What puzzles the researchers is the journey. Assaf asks why very young children were taken on exhausting, hazardous trips into dark, meandering caves with low oxygen levels, crawling through crevices, descending shafts and climbing rocks to reach their destination.
What it Leaves Out?
Dr. Kedar notes that “despite extensive research on cave art, few studies have focused on the presence of children.” The prevailing hypothesis, she says, is that their participation served an educational purpose: passing down knowledge, traditions and customs to the next generation.
The team argues for an additional meaning. In Kedar’s words:
children “played an important, unique role of their own — direct communication with entities residing in the depths of the earth and otherworldly realms.”
Or, as the researchers put it, “Young children were credited with special qualities in the spiritual world, enabling them to communicate with entities from the beyond.”
Children As Go-betweens
To build the case, the researchers combined extensive studies about children in indigenous societies with new insights into rituals performed in caves with paintings. Assaf says that:
“The world of childhood differs from that of adults, and children possess a range of unique mental and cognitive traits.”
For that reason, indigenous cultures worldwide, throughout history and prehistory, have viewed children as “active agents,” mediators between this world and the entities inhabiting the natural world, the underworld and the cosmos.
That mattered for hunter-gatherers, who lived in nature and sought continuous, respectful relationships with animals and plants that served as food sources, stones used for toolmaking, ancestral spirits and more.
“Many of these societies regarded caves as gateways to the underworld – where, through shamanic rituals, they could communicate with cosmic entities and inhabitants of the underworld, to resolve existential problems.”
Barkai stated that young children were viewed as beings who stood between two realms: the one they had only just left before birth and the world they live in now. For that reason, small children were thought to be especially well suited to bridging the gap between the worlds and passing messages to non-human entities.
In the researchers’ view, children went with adults on journeys into the depths of caves and joined in the painting and rituals, a part of their place in the community, where they served as the perfect go-betweens with entities from the beyond.
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