Child in Time: Children as Liminal Agents in Upper Paleolithic Decorated Caves

Abstract

Among the multiple zoomorphic and geometric images that dominate Upper Paleolithic decorated cave walls in Europe, some intriguing human hand stencils and finger flutings stand out. Dozens of these marks are attributed to toddlers and children aged 2–12. Accompanied by older group members, they entered these deep, oxygen-depleted and sensory-deprived spaces, climbing and crawling in dark, wet, difficult-to-navigate environments where one might easily get lost or separated from the group. So, why would anyone bring young children into such dangerous locations? Relevant archaeological and anthropological studies form the basis of our hypothesis that the journeys of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to the depths of deep caves along with their young children should be seen in the framework of active connection with the cosmos as practiced by many indigenous societies worldwide. Indigenous societies often view children as liminal agents with unique physical, cognitive, and mental qualities that allow them to return to the supernatural realm more easily than adults. This makes them especially adept mediators between the world of the living and that of the spirits. In this paper, we examine children’s contribution to the creation of Paleolithic cave art as active agents. Their presence in caves (liminal spaces in themselves) and their participation in the creation of rock art might thus reflect their unique role in early human cosmology and ontology.

1. Introduction

Tens of thousands of years ago, in some of the darkest and deepest caves of Europe, children left their mark. Their footprints were imprinted on the ground, and their handprints and finger flutings colored and carved the walls. As we stand before this evidence today, we find ourselves groping in the dark, searching for a glimmer of understanding. For us, in the modern Western world, it seems irresponsible to allow children to penetrate such dangerous spaces, which terrify us even as adults. But in Upper Paleolithic times, it appears that children, even at young ages, accompanied adult group members into deep, dark caves to create different sorts of depictions on the cave walls. Moreover, children were not only companions in these journeys to the bowels of the earth; they also took part in the creation of the depictions, playing a role in the rituals and spiritual activities taking place in these extraordinary environments, far from the world of the here and now. In this paper we wonder why.

About 400 decorated caves dating from ca. 40,000 to 14,000 BP were discovered in Western Europe, mostly in Spain and France (Clottes 2008; Cuenca-Solana et al. 2016; Dachary et al. 2016; Pastoors and Weniger 2011; Quiles et al. 2016; Théry-Parisot et al. 2018; Verbrugge 1958; Garate et al. 2020a, 2020b, 2013). Zoomorphic depictions dominate the cave walls, but human hand stencils and handprints, as well as geometric abstract signs, are also of note. Anthropomorphic images, plants, or other natural phenomena are rare or almost completely lacking (Clottes 1999; Medina-Alcaide et al. 2018). The images were painted mostly in black, white, and red, sometimes engraved on soft walls or hard surfaces, and were found in varied contexts: in dark, narrow passages, large halls, at the cave’s entrance, or between the entrance and the back wall (De Balbín-Behrmann et al. 2017; Garate et al. 2015; Lewis-Williams and Clottes 2007; Medina-Alcaide et al. 2018; Paillet 2014; Pastoors and Weniger 2011; Verbrugge 1958). Some of the depictions are located as far into the cave as people could go, requiring them to crawl through very narrow passages, climb steps, cross narrow ledges, and descend shafts several meters deep, using torches, lamps, and hearths for light (Clottes 2012; Romano et al. 2019; Garate et al. 2023; Medina-Alcaide et al. 2018, 2021).

Upper Paleolithic cave art in Europe is one of the most studied phenomena in prehistory. Attempts to understand the reasoning behind these magnificent creations are many, but no consensus has ever been reached. Some suggest the images were created as an expression of the artistic abilities of their makers and/or solely for aesthetic reasons (Delporte 1990, p. 191). A structuralist hypothesis claimed that the distribution of images in caves follows a binary system, with paired representations indicating a structured symbolic system reflecting social organization and perceptions (Leroi-Gourhan 1965). The sympathetic magic hypothesis suggests that the images were created to gain control over the animals as part of the rites supporting the hunt (Bégouen 1939; Lewis-Williams and Clottes 2007; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1967). The totemism approach suggests that the group had a privileged relationship with the animal they drew as part of an elementary religion (Clottes and Lewis-Williams 1998; Maringer 1960, p. 60; Reinach 1905). Some researchers have suggested that the decorated caves of the Upper Paleolithic period served as a means of information exchange (Conkey 1980; Feruglio et al. 2019) and as territorial markers used to negotiate social identities (Bourdier 2013; Gamble 1991). Another theory emphasizes the role of these caves as liminal spaces and portals to the underworld, with the rock face inside the cave acting as a connecting membrane between humans and the underworld (Lewis-Williams and Clottes 2007; Smith 1992). Entering these caves might have brought about an altered state of consciousness, in which the senses operate under deprivation caused by isolation from the outside world and total darkness (Asaad and Shapiro 1986; Guerra-Doce 2015a, 2015b; Horowitz 1964; Kluver 1942; Lewis-Williams 1997, 2002; Morris 2006; Siegel and Jarvik 1975; Winkelman 2010). Kedar et al. (2021) proposed that hypoxia, which can occur in deep caves where oxygen levels are depleted by the use of artificial light, may induce symptoms similar to those experienced in an altered state of consciousness (ASC), and that the cave depictions may have been created under the influence of such a deliberately induced hypoxic state or following such experiences. This hypothesis is also consistent with the locations of many cave depictions, deep in the interior corridors and narrow passages that cannot be navigated without torches or lamps.

Indeed, cave art is a complex phenomenon, which could also be multifaceted; shamanic activities, hunting magic, and processes of knowledge transmission—all of these could have been part of the “picture”, so to speak. However, we perceive all these as stemming from a specific perceptual foundation and a distinct ontological world view: we believe these depictions should be viewed as a possible mediator between humans and their interactions with the cosmos rather than as a phenomenon pertaining to humans alone. This mediating role can be understood in the context of the ontological and cosmological beliefs of indigenous peoples, by which they establish and maintain their relationships with the world (Kedar et al. 2021). Entering these deep, dark environments was, in our view, a conscious choice, motivated by an understanding of the transformative nature of an underground, sensory-deprived and oxygen-depleted space. Caves are dark, silent, and isolated from the outside world, especially in their deepest and narrowest passages. This environment can thus be conceived as both a liminal space and an ontological arena, allowing early humans to maintain their connectedness with the cosmos. The underground chambers were decorated, we argue, because of their significance in human cosmology and ontology, as caves were perceived as portals to the underworld and membranes to the world beyond the here and now (Kedar et al. 2021).

Many of the cave depictions were identified as having been made by children aged 2–12 (see Nowell 2015; Nowell and Van Gelder 2020; and references therein), usually accompanied by other group members (Romano et al. 2019). In some decorated caves, about 9% of the cave visitors were identified as infants, with older children accounting for about 27% (Fernández-Navarro et al. 2022). Nowell (2015) suggests that children in the Upper Paleolithic period may have employed metaphorical thinking when processing visual imagery. Metaphors help us see the connections between different realities, draw new associations, and allow us to access deeper levels of meaning. They facilitate the recognition of patterns and relationships between disparate ideas. As children engage in fantasy play, they spontaneously employ this type of thinking. According to Guthrie (2005), the creation of wall paintings, particularly those featuring animal depictions, required the development of skills over many years of learning. Thus, young individuals in training may have initially produced less intricate works on the walls (Guthrie 2005). This could explain the presence of some “clumsy” drawings, as mastering artistic techniques takes many years of practice (Shea 2006; Rivero 2016). Some researchers suggest that certain areas were used as play spaces simply for enjoyment since signs of trampling, slipping, removing material from a wall, or clay pellets adhering to the ceiling were documented (Ledoux 2019, pp. 305–6, 334–35; Romano et al. 2019; de Beaune 2022; Langley and Litster 2018).

The presence of children in caves has also been explained in a social context: a communal, family, or group-oriented activity, where individuals of all ages and genders made visual contributions as an expression of social practices within the Paleolithic community and as a mode of communication for defining and transmitting social rules, relationships, and beliefs (de Beaune 2022; Cooney Williams and Janik 2018). It was also suggested that children were included in this activity with the aim of integrating them into the community and the adult world (Cooney Williams and Janik 2018). Although these hypotheses may be part of the story, we think it is important to examine the role of children as active agents in the creation of cave art. As pointed out by (Baxter 2008, p. 171, following Kamp 2001), “the archaeology of childhood will ultimately become the archaeology of age, where age-based categories throughout the human life cycle become important ways of understanding identity in the past”. Children, too, might make a unique contribution to the social practices of their community during this distinctive period of mental and cognitive flexibility, when fewer barriers exist between worlds, and conceptions of time are more fluid.

We will consider the liminality of children in the general framework of active connection with the cosmos as practiced by many indigenous societies worldwide. Such societies consider reciprocal relationships with the environment, the elements, places in the landscape, and other-than-human counterparts and companions such as animals, trees, and stones to be essential for a group’s well-being and successful adaptation (Kearney et al. 2019; Taçon 2019; Taçon and Baker 2019; Arthur 2018; Bird-David and Naveh 2008; Hallowell 1960; Kimmerer 2018; Nadasdy 2007; Whitley 1994). Carving on cave walls or rock shelters is one way of mediating between the human and spiritual realms. Following this line of thinking, we use relevant insights from recent indigenous groups as food for thought—and not by direct analogy—to Upper Paleolithic conceptions of caves and children (for an elaboration of this approach and its implementation for the Paleolithic, see Assaf and Romagnoli 2021; Barkai 2019, 2021; Litov and Barkai 2024a, 2024b; Efrati 2024; Kedar et al. 2021). We proceed with the necessary caution required when extrapolating from contemporary indigenous groups to human behavior in the Paleolithic. Nonetheless, we believe that relationships with landscape features such as caves and the beings that inhabit them represent a universal core value that might be shared between past and present groups whose lives are intimately entwined with the natural world. These shared core values might extend to the role of children. Although these relationships will obviously differ among different groups, influenced by culture and tradition, we nonetheless argue that the association of caves with the spiritual and supernatural realm of the underworld throughout time indicates more commonality than difference. As will be demonstrated below, children, due to their young age, i.e., their short-lived stay in the here and now, and their mental flexibility, can gain access more easily than adults to the supernatural realm. Thus, they are especially adept mediators between the world of the living and that of the spirits. Their presence in caves and their participation in the creation of rock art (i.e., an act of communication) should be a serious part of any attempt to decipher the mysterious phenomenon of penetrating deep, dark caves and depicting images on their walls (e.g., Arthur 2020; Headrick 2007; Iijima 1987). Following this line of thought, and based on relevant archaeological and anthropological studies, we suggest here that Upper Paleolithic cave depictions made by children reflect the unique role of children and perceptions of childhood in the cosmology and ontology of Paleolithic humans.

This paper begins with a presentation of the relevant archaeological data: a review of images made by children in Upper Paleolithic caves. Following this, we will discuss the role of caves as liminal portals and the role of children as liminal agents among indigenous and pre-industrial societies worldwide. We will conclude with a combined archaeological–anthropological perspective about the possible role of children as liminal agents in Paleolithic decorated caves.

2. Children in Upper Paleolithic Decorated Caves

Children and young adults are estimated to constitute up to 40% of Upper Paleolithic populations (Chamberlain 1997). However, we have little information about their activities in deep caves, apart from traces of their footprints, handprints, and finger flutings (

Table 1. Children’s handprints, hand flutings, and footprints discovered in Franco-Cantabrian UP caves. Adolescent marks were excluded from the table.

Site	Finger Flutings	Handprints	Footprints	Ref
Rouffignac	+			(Nowell and Van Gelder 2020; Van Gelder 2013)
Gargas	+	+		(Van Gelder 2015; Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006; Nowell and Van Gelder 2020)
Las Chimeneas	+			(Van Gelder 2015)
Fuente del Salín		+		(Alzate Casallas 2023)
Fuente del Trucho		+		(Hoffmann et al. 2017)
Maltravieso		+		(Rosina et al. 2023)
La Garma		+		(Pettitt et al. 2014)
Pech Merle		+	+	(Pastoors et al. 2015)
Tuc d’Audoubert			+	(Bégouën and Breuil 1958; de Beaune 2022)
Réseau Clastres			+	(Pastoors et al. 2021) (Fritz et al. 2016) (de Beaune 2022)
Bàsura Cave			+	(Lockley et al. 2008; Romano et al. 2019)
Fontanet		+	+	(de Beaune 2022)
Theopetra			+	(Facorellis et al. 2001; Bednarik 2008)
Cosquer			+	(Clottes et al. 2005)
Altamira			+	(Clottes et al. 2005)

). Currently, 56 decorated caves in the European Paleolithic exhibit human hand motifs, comprising a total of 769 hand depictions. Among these, 90% are negative images or stencils, 9% are positive images or imprints, and 1% are mixed representations. The caves showcasing these motifs are primarily concentrated in northern Spain (n = 23) and southern France (n = 30), but also in Gibraltar (n = 1) and Italy (n = 2; see Fernández-Navarro et al. 2022). Dozens of these depictions were made by children aged 2–12, as described in Table 1. Some significant points and specific cases will be described in the following paragraphs.

Children’s footprints: In most of the caves where children’s footprints were found, no depictions made by children were identified, with two exceptions (Pech Merle and Fontanet caves). However, the footprints are direct evidence that children were indeed present in some of the deepest and darkest locales. Footprints of young children and even babies were discovered in Fontanet cave, France, indicating that the group entered hard-to-reach areas. Footprints of a child were discovered in the deepest section of the cave. In the Ariège hall, it is believed that children walked, stooped, or crouched in areas with ceilings no more than 130 cm high, as confirmed by handprints and slip marks (Ledoux 2019, p. 304; de Beaune 2022). Notably, a handprint of a child around 4 or 5 years old was found in the cave’s shaft, which required the use of a challenging climbing technique known as the opposition technique. Despite the difficulty, evidence suggests that this young child successfully climbed out of the shaft (de Beaune 2022). At Basura cave, Italy, analysis of footprints revealed that they were created by a group of early humans who descended at least 400 m into the cave (Figure 1). The group consisted of two adults, an adolescent, and two children, all of whom entered the cave barefoot and used wooden torches to light their way (Romano et al. 2019; Avanzini et al. 2021). Some of the footprints on the clay floor at Tuc d’Audoubert, France (Bégouën and Breuil 1958) are believed to have been made by children as young as three years old, while the majority seem to represent children and teenagers between nine and fifteen years old. The footprints of a 2–4-year-old child were discovered on one of the benches in the back room of the Tuc d’Audoubert cave, approximately 600 m from the entrance. In the Salle des Talons (Room of Heels), very young individuals walked on their heels without placing the soles of their feet on the ground near the end of the gallery, close to the famous clay bison statues, leaving more than 180 footprints behind (Clottes et al. 1983; de Beaune 2022; Fritz et al. 2016). In the Méroc gallery, a variety of hand, knee, foot, and slide tracks were found, left by a group of individuals, including both adults and children. San trackers provided more precise data about the number of individuals. They estimated that 13 individuals, including six men, two women, one boy, and three girls, ranging in age from 3 to 60 years, visited this deep part of the cave. According to their analysis, the recorded presence of five or six pathways suggests a depiction of a ritual dance performed by young individuals as part of an initiation ceremony (Pastoors et al. 2015, 2021).

3. Finger Flutings and Handprints

The distinction between children and adult finger flutings and handprints is based mostly on biological criteria. Thus, for example, the width of the impression made in clay by an individual’s three central fingers could serve as a criterion (Fernández-Navarro et al. 2022). Impressions with a width of 30 mm or less are typically found in children under five, while impressions with a width of 33 mm or less are mainly seen in children aged seven or younger (Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006, p. 943; Van Gelder 2015). In extreme cases, children as young as five can have a three-fingered width as wide as 40 mm, and a twelve-year-old adolescent can have a three-fingered width as wide as 51 mm, similar to the widths observed in adult males. These findings suggest that while we can attribute very small-width flutings to children, it is also possible that young children could be responsible for other flutings that cannot be distinguished from those made by adults (Nowell and Van Gelder 2020). Thus, children’s participation in decorated caves can be traced in finger flutings, handprints, and footprints, found, for example, in Aldène, Bedilhac, Chauvet, Cosquer, El Castillo, Font du Gaume, Fontanet, Gargas, Las Chimeneas, Montespan, Niaux, Ojo Guareña, Pech Merle, Réseau Clastres, Rouffignac, and Tuc d’Adoubert (Bahn and Vertut 1997; Clottes 2013; Roveland 2000; Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006; Van Gelder 2015; Nowell 2015; Bednarik 2008). It is important to note, however, that the methods used to identify these markings are not universally accepted. Walshe et al. (2024) argue that evidence for the claim that age, sex, and individual tracing can be determined by finger flutings is largely unsubstantiated. They cited factors such as small sample sizes, uneven distribution of sex and age, non-standardized media, human variability, lack of comparability between experimental and real environments, and assumptions about demographic modeling (Walshe et al. 2024).

At Rouffignac Cave, France, finger flutings on a panel depicting a saiga antelope suggest that the image was co-created by a child and an older individual, possibly an adult (Barrière 1982, p. 87; Van Gelder and Nowell 2021, Figure 2). One of the lines in the drawing was made by a child under the age of 5. Another example in Chamber G4, about 455 m from the cave entrance, is a 1.62 m high and 0.82 m wide panel with 19 thick lines drawn with a tool (Figure 3). Seven streams of finger flutings were drawn over the lines. The measurements of the fluted streams show the presence of five different individuals with hand measures of 48 mm, 44 mm, 38 mm, 34 mm, and 31 mm. The 31 mm measures indicate a child, yet their marks are nearly at the highest point of the panel (1.62 m), suggesting that they may have been held up by an adult to reach that height (Barrière 1982, p. 19; Nowell and Van Gelder 2020). In Chamber A1, marks on a highly fluted ceiling (Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006) indicate that children contributed heavily to the fluting of the ceiling and walls. Current research suggests that at least three children and two adults, clearly identified within the chamber, were present. The children were likely held in certain sections to flute the higher parts of the ceiling. Lower areas show evidence of many flutings created by children with finger measures ranging from 22 mm to 31 mm (Van Gelder 2013). In Gargas cave, France, three-fingered flutings were found that indicated a minimum of eight individuals, including three children. The flutings were created by an infant with a finger fluting width of 22 mm, implying that the child must have been held up to make these marks. Evidence of very young children has also been found among the hand stencils in Gargas cave, with at least one stencil showing the hand of an infant and the wrist of the person holding the infant’s hand against the wall. Additionally, a 2 m long crevasse was finger-fluted on both sides by a number of people working in concert. The flutings of the child are found at the low points on the panel. Another panel found in the Zone of Crevasses shows lines drawn by a female on the left side and a child on the right. The height of the panel is approximately 1.68 m, suggesting that the child was held up on the female’s right hip. In the crevasse on the other side, a child drew long lines down the interior of the crevasse, indicating that the child was carried and able to draw long continuous lines down the length of the space (Van Gelder 2015; Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006; Nowell and Van Gelder 2020). The cave at Las Chimeneas, Spain, contains finger flutings in four different areas. Most of these flutings are on the cave walls in crevassed regions. Seven individuals, three of whom are children, were identified. Two of the children account for more than half of the flutings. Although the children drew many flutings, their lines always appear alongside those drawn by at least one adult-sized hand (Van Gelder 2015). In Rouffignac cave, France, there are tracings made by children aged 2 to 5 years on the ceiling, which they could not reach unless assisted by adults (Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006; Van Gelder 2015).

Evidence for cooperation between children and adults in cave decoration is also reflected in handprint images. In the Gargas, Cosquer, and Altamira caves, small handprints suggest children put their hands on the wall and adults projected paint around them, leaving the outlines of their hands as negative images (Clottes et al. 2005). In Gargas, an adult held a baby’s hand while the dye was projected onto both hands simultaneously (Sahly 1961). Additionally, Clottes et al. (2005) documented handprints of children in Cosquer cave, France, at heights exceeding 2.20 m, suggesting that children had access to the deepest parts of the cave and were likely held by adults to leave their handprints on the cave walls. This deliberate action implies that the handprints were not random gestures (Clottes et al. 2005; Van Gelder 2015).

4. Challenges in Entering a Deep Cave

The caves mentioned above were deep and narrow, requiring the use of artificial light (e.g., torches). Using torches or lamps in environments such as these can lead to a rapid decrease in oxygen levels, and the high humidity in the cave can also cause heat stress. The natural oxygen concentration in the atmosphere and also in caves is 21%. Hypoxia occurs when the human body is deprived of its required oxygen supply. Mild hypoxia occurs when the oxygen concentration is between 18% to 13.5%, while severe hypoxia occurs at levels below 13.5%. When oxygen levels are low, the body compensates by increasing the breathing rate and cardiac output. Loss of consciousness can occur when the oxygen level falls to 9.5% (Burtscher et al. 2012). Computer simulations have shown that oxygen concentrations in caves can fall below the level that induces a hypoxic state (<18%) in less than 15 min. In areas with low ceilings or small halls, the oxygen concentration can drop to as low as 11%, resulting in severe hypoxia (Kedar et al. 2021).

The humidity in deep parts of the decorated caves is typically above 95%. The human body is sensitive to high temperatures, and heat-related illnesses and deaths still occur even in modern times. Normal human body temperature is around 37 °C and is regulated to remain within this range. When relative humidity is high, heat transfer from the body is reduced, causing the body’s internal temperature to increase. Therefore, when the human core body temperature reaches 38.5 °C to 39.0 °C, impaired performance, confusion, blurred vision, poor motor function, and increased irritability can result (Macpherson 1960; Leithead and Lind 1964; Hancock 1982). The use of artificial fire by Paleolithic humans inside deep, dark caves would have created extreme stress on the human body due to the increase in the hall temperature combined with the high humidity, which prevents the human body from cooling down (Kedar et al. 2023).

Moreover, entering deep, dark caves gives rise to a sense of isolation from the outside world and to sensory deprivation. Movement in many of the caves is difficult and necessitates climbing and crawling in dark, wet environments, not exactly what one would expect of young children. Navigating in deep, dark caves is far from easy or straightforward, and the chances of getting lost or separated from the group must also be considered. Regardless of such hazards, children’s marks were discovered in confined spaces where they could experience such stressful situations. So, why would anyone bring young children into such dangerous locations?

5. Caves—The Birthplace of Everything and Home of the Ancestors

Caves have been revered in many societies worldwide as powerful cosmological spaces that connect the surface, the sky, and the earth below (Mlekuž 2019). According to ethnoarchaeological evidence, members of indigenous cultures in Africa and Australia stayed away from deep caves, avoided using them, and treated them as the abode of spirits, evil creatures, or dangerous forces (Bednarik 2016, p. 140). Caves were treated as a supernatural environment where an invisible spiritual world exists (Clottes 2012, p. 16), similar to the physical world, but dark, dangerous, and uninviting (Taçon and Ouzman 2004, p. 39).

In Maya cosmology, caves were perceived as dangerous yet charged with energy, and were believed to provide access to the underworld of the ancestors, the entrance to the mountains, home of the “Earth Lord”, and a source of valuable resources such as water and maize (Brady and Ashmore 1999; Lucero 2018). Deep caves were considered to be a place where keepers of the earth, animal spirits, and powerful forces which need to be honored resided. When the first Europeans arrived, they reported that rituals related to hunting, agriculture, and ancestor worship took place in caves (Stone 1997, pp. 202–3). The materials taken from the caves (such as clay) were used to produce objects and items for sacred spaces and to prepare medicinal substances (Moyes and Brady 2012). Similarly, the Inca also regarded caves as portals to establish contact with their ancestors and the underworld, and they placed the remains of their ancestors in caves as an offering to the Earth Mother (Gonzalez-Garcia 2017). This association of caves with the ancestors is also evident in Aztec place names for caves, such as Colhuacan, meaning “place of those who have grandfathers or ancestors,” and Teocoluacan, meaning “place of the divine ancestors” (Heyden 1981, p. 15).

In various cultures, caves are significant ritual locations, seen as liminal, transformative spaces connecting the spiritual and material worlds. Cherokee Native American cosmology recognizes caves as portals with transformative significance (Tankersley and Weeks 2020; Mooney 1900). In south-central Siberia, mountain caves are seen as places of change, combining the three layers of the universe. Caves are perceived as a bridge between the underground world and the physical world, and their location in the mountains allows a connection to the upper layer (Van Densen 2004). Similar beliefs exist among the people of the Dolgan and Hikutia regions in eastern Siberia. They regard openings and pits in the ground as points of passage for malicious spirits, passing from the underground world to the living world (Rozwadowski 2017, p. 419).

Furthermore, caves, along with other natural elements such as stones, water, animals, trees, and mountains, have been and continue to be seen as potentially animate, capable of possessing personhood and gender affinity (Arthur 2020; Bird-David and Naveh 2008; Hallowell 1960, pp. 19–52; Kimmerer 2018; Whitley 1994). In many societies, caves are associated with female attributes. In ancient Mesoamerican cosmology, the Earth was considered female, and caves were seen as portals into a watery domain metaphorically representing the womb of the Earth Mother. Entering a cave is viewed as a return to the womb of Mother Earth, while exiting is an act of rebirth (McCafferty and McCafferty 2008). Similarly, in East Asia (e.g., Japan, Cambodia, and Mongolia), caves are perceived as a womb, with special rituals related to them. The central psychological motif of these rituals is a return to the womb, symbolizing rebirth, acquiring knowledge and wisdom, and being “reborn” with new knowledge and powers (Charleux 2022; Hardacre 1983). Among the Boreda of southern Ethiopia, as well as in other African societies, caves are perceived as the “wombs of the earth”, a place where people first emerged, and a site to connect with the ancestors (Arthur 2020; Beardsley 2016; Schmidt and Pikirayi 2016). Infants are brought to the cave for their first “blessing”, and offerings are made when a child is born (Arthur 2020). Many indigenous groups worldwide view caves as the birthplace of game animals, where they are under the control of the Master of Animals (Mooney 1900, p. 433). This concept might be considered a primordial universal characteristic of indigenous hunting societies (Beach and Stammler 2006; Duerr 2010; Fernández-Llamazares and Virtanen 2020; Garfinkel et al. 2009; Hitoshi 2013; Loring 1996; Low 2018; Paulson and Auer 1964; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1967). In China and Europe, people used cave sediments and “cave milk” until the nineteenth century to cure various diseases (Clottes 2011, p. 223). In Central America, cave clay is still used today to treat intestinal diseases (Brady and Rissolo 2006). Therefore, caves are not only associated with the ancestral world but also with the creation of new life; they are seen as the birthplace of everything, including game animals, providing the world with the essentials for existence and well-being (Astor-Aguilera 2010; Carroll et al. 2019; Clottes and Lewis-Williams 1998; Gonzalez-Garcia 2017; Houston 2014, pp. 27–40, 75).

Entering caves and carving rocks is one way to communicate with the cosmos and the ancestors, with different individuals having different roles in these communication rituals. Here, we focus on the possible role of children as liminal agents in such rituals, as we attempt to explain their presence in an environment considered potent and dangerous by the adults around them.

6. The Liminality of Children and Childhood: An Ethnographic Perspective

Needless to say, perceptions about children and childhood differ among different cultures, as a result of various cultural, economic, environmental, and ontological circumstances. Striking differences, for example, are expected between egalitarian immediate-return and hierarchical delayed-return societies, following the definition of Woodburn (1982). The Inuit, for example, view children as socially competent shortly after birth, whereas the African farmers of the Bemba would say that a child is like a seed that has to be “grown” into an adult (Froese 2013). Nonetheless, some universal perceptions about the liminality of children are shared by indigenous, non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, Democracies) (Henrich et al. 2010) contemporary and pre-industrial societies. The distinct biological characteristics of childhood are the basis for these shared perceptions. The following anthropological review will emphasize contemporary hunter-gatherer conceptions of childhood, but the universal, cross-cultural motif of children’s liminality and its expression in various types of rituals among indigenous societies in general, past and present, will also be discussed.

Hunting-gathering, immediate-return societies (Woodburn 1982) are generally founded upon and operate on the principle of sharing (Hewlett and Hewlett 2012; Lavi and Friesem 2019). This worldview affects the way children are raised, but it is also expressed in every aspect of daily life: food acquisition strategies (Kaplan et al. 2005; Marshall 1993; Sonoda 2016); the distribution of food between group members (Crittenden and Zes 2015; Damas 1972; Dyble et al. 2016; Endicott 1988); childcare (Gray 2009; Hawkes et al. 2000; Hewlett 2014); shared living spaces (Lavi and Bird-David 2014); sharing of knowledge, e.g., intellectual property (Lewis 2015); various skills and social norms (Bird-David et al. 2005, p. 101; Pandaya 2005); and sharing of know-how and personal experience (DeVore and Lee 1998; Salali et al. 2016). Accordingly, several cross-cultural meta ethnographic studies point to similar childhood patterns among hunter-gatherers worldwide (Boyette and Hewlett 2018; Briggs 1970; Hewlett 2014, p. 267; Hewlett and Roulette 2016; Konner 2016; Kruger and Konner 2010). Children in many groups spend much of their time in physical proximity to their parents, actively taking part in all kinds of activities, including ritualistic/spiritual ones, from a very young age.

Among indigenous Australian societies, for example, children were actively involved in rituals and ceremonial cycles, in which communicating with other-than-human deities was part of the journey from childhood to adulthood. The journey could involve participating in up to 20 ceremonial cycles, some lasting for months. It could take 30 years or even longer to complete the full initiation process (Engelhart 1998, p. 111; Goldhahn et al. 2020; May and Goldhahn 2020). Dancing and singing play a major role in these rituals, acting as a primary mechanism for inducing trance and altered states of consciousness, considered essential for traveling to the worlds beyond the here and now and connecting with the cosmos and the ancestors in order to solve all kinds of problems and promote healing of the community, individuals within the community, and the cosmos itself (e.g., Campbell 2023; Fink et al. 2021; Frembgen 2012; Garfinkel 2018; Katz 1982; Katz et al. 1997; Rouget 1985). Children, as mentioned, were an integral part of these practices.

Megan Biesele described such a practice of the click-speaking Ju/’hoan San people of the Kalahari, as she witnessed during her fieldwork in the 70s:

At this dance I saw men of all ages dancing with other men and boys of all ages, their short, precise steps moving them in a slowly revolving circle around seated women who were clapping and singing with other women and girls of all ages. Younger children clustered closely with their mothers and aunties in the tight circle on the sand. Babies were in laps or right up next to their mothers’ bodies, skin to skin at the dance just as they were most of the time everywhere, absorbing the rhythm and the singing through their bodies as well as through their ears (Biesele 2023, p. 35).

The San trance healing dance was the focus of several studies from different time periods, and thus provides us with a plethora of information rarely shared in accounts of other indigenous healing practices (e.g., Biesele 2023; Katz 1982; Katz et al. 1997; Lee 1967, 1968; Marshall 1969). While the role of children in the healing dance was never the focus of ethnographic research, the active and passive participation of children of all ages in the preparation for the dance, the dance itself, and knowledge transmission regarding the different components of the dance did not go unnoticed. The following pictures, generously provided by Megan Biesele, David Katz, and Melissa Heckler, demonstrate better than words how children are deeply interwoven in all aspects of the trance dance. In Figure 4 we see young babies in the midst of the trance dance. One is held in the hand of his/her mother while she is dancing and the other one is in a baby carrier on his/her mother’s back while she sits in a women’s circle, clapping and singing. Babies and very young children accompanied their mothers in the trance dance, which lasted for many hours, and they were exposed from a very young age to its rhythms, sounds, and experiences. They were actually breastfed with the healing dance from the moment they were born. In Figure 5 we see a young boy resting in the arms of his father after a long night together at the healing dance. One can just imagine the impact of such a night on the young boy, while his father appears completely content. In Figure 6 we get a sense of how knowledge of the healing dance is transmitted to children from a very young age, as we see a young boy following the steps of an experienced trance dancer around the dance circle. In Figure 7 we see young girls practicing the healing songs that will later be sung as a central element in the trance dance. Visible behind the child in Figure 8 are the legs of his father or other male relative, encased in a set of dance rattles that make the percussive sound accompanying the polyphonic vocal music of the dance. The rattles are made from dried cocoons filled with bits of ostrich eggshell or tiny pebbles. The picture was taken in 1971. In Figure 9, which shows a picture taken in 2017, we see an adult dressing a young child’s leg with a rattle, providing the young boy with the experience of wearing such an elaborate acoustic element. In Figure 10 we see another picture taken in 2017, showing young children practicing the moves of the healing dance around the fire. Children often initiated the dance during the early evening by starting to dance around the fire, and adults joined them later on in a trance healing dance that continued until dawn (Biesele 2023). It is clear that among the Kalahari San, and among many other indigenous societies, children took part in most activities carried on in the camp and elsewhere, including spiritual and ritual performances. Clearly, these children were affected by the extraordinary atmosphere of the trance dance, the music, and the ecstasy and excitement involved. Were they also affecting the trance dance with their presence? Was there any significance to the participation of young toddlers in the healing ritual? Unfortunately, these questions remain, for now, unanswered.

Despite the presence of very young children at these sacred rituals, some accounts indicate that the cosmological meanings of such supernatural activities, including rock painting, are revealed to children gradually in accordance with their age (Goldhahn et al. 2020; Hewlett and Hewlett 2012). In many cases, only after initiation, following strict procedures of seclusion, isolation, and physical and mental challenges, do young adults become full participants in the whole range of activities carried out by initiated group members, including activities such as large-game hunting and spiritual practices. This does not, however, preclude any potential significance of the participation of young children in cosmologically oriented activities, in which their young age might in and of itself be the meaningful element. Interestingly, in many indigenous societies, initiation practices include a seclusion period within an isolated cave, in which the initiate is expected to undergo spiritual experiences (Whitley 2024, 2021a, 2021b). Thus, caves are strongly connected with transformative, or liminal, stages in the spiritual development of young individuals and are conceived as a cosmological arena within which connectedness with the cosmos could be achieved.

In addition to the sharing principle, many hunter-gatherer societies emphasize personal autonomy and independence (Hewlett and Hewlett 2012; Lew-Levy et al. 2020; Morelli 2017; Ohmagari and Berkes 1997), which influence the way children are perceived and how their lives are shaped. The Anangu of Australia believe that by allowing children to act autonomously, they will grow up to be who they really are (Lew-Levy et al. 2017). Among the Inuit, it is thus similarly believed that teaching or guiding children directly is unnecessary, and they can learn better by trying for themselves, observing others, and gaining experience on their own (Park 2006, p. 55). Nonetheless, newborns, infants, and children are recognized as a distinct group. For the Dunne-za of North America, for example, young people before the age of puberty are considered “another kind of person”, as are infants before the age of reason. The distinction between young and old is very significant, equally important to the gender contrast (Ridington 1983). In large, this distinction is related to the fact that newborns and young children have unregulated senses. Moreover, those who have just been born have relations with the dead; therefore, they could “slip through” the land of the dead or otherwise transform. Due to that fact, among the Arctic Yupi’ik, the care of newborns by their fathers was perceived to be dangerous, as it could lead to a ”slip through” of the father himself (Fienup-Riordan 2005, pp. 112–13). Among a wide variety of Amazonian groups, human babies are perceived to exist in liminal spaces where their humanness is poorly defined. The fact that parents are humans is no assurance of the child’s humanity (Vilaça 2002). Among the Wari’ of Brazil, a newborn is made human when its body is in contraposition to animal bodies. Other Amazonian societies share similar concepts: at birth, a Piro baby is inspected to decide whether it is human or another animal. Among the Piaroa, the baby is called “the young of animals”. Among the Suyá, it is believed that if the parents eat an animal, the child will have that animal’s characteristics (Vilaça 2002; Seeger 1980, p. 152). Of special note is the relation between children and birds. In central and north Asia, the Goldi, the Dolgan, and the Tungus say that, before birth, the souls of children perch like little birds on the branches of the Cosmic Tree and the shamans go there to find their souls (Froese 2013). The connection between children and birds is also reflected in Arctic societies, where amulets made of birds and bird parts were attached to children’s clothing or worn in anticipation of motherhood (Hill 2019; Buijs and Oosten 1997, pp. 111–12; Rasmussen 1931). Birds themselves are seen as having liminal characteristics in various cultures, as connecting between the world of the living and the world beyond (Pasarić 2023).

It is important to note that, as mentioned, child rearing and childhood perception differ between societies. Nonetheless, the liminality of children is similarly expressed in many hunter-gatherer as well as agricultural societies worldwide. One of these traits is the short-lived stay of children in our world, which has not yet allowed them to “shed the qualities of the supernatural realm from which they recently came and fully assimilate into the human world” (Headrick 2007, p. 47). Their ”return” to the supernatural realm is perceived as easier than that of adults who have lived in the earthly realm for many years, making them especially adept mediators between the world of the living and that of the spirits (Headrick 2007). However, the ways to practice this mediation are diverse and culturally dependent.

Dreaming and vision questing form another realm in which the liminality of children in indigenous societies is expressed. Among the Dunne-za in Alberta, Canada, children would seek spiritual contact with the bush realm through dreaming. Traditionally, each child would venture into the bush alone to gain knowledge and power from a medicine animal, which could convey specific powers to the child. However, this journey carried the risk of entering the mythic animal world and potentially being lost to the Dunne-za community (Ridington 1983). Furthermore, the Ojibwe, Cree, and Innu in Canada created rock paintings near rivers, which, according to their traditions, were carved by small riverbank-dwelling water spirits called Memegwesi. These paintings and carvings typically represented subjects seen in a dream that are visible only to children and medicine people. Dreaming plays a crucial role in the process of communication with the bush/river realm, as it enables a transition between these realms and that of the “here and now” (Nash 2022).

In the world of these spirit beings, everyday physical reality is often inverted—thus, for example, a lack of water in this world implies abundant water in the spirit world. Specific people in the group serve as mediators between the physical and spirit worlds to ensure balance between the two (Stoffle et al. 2022). The mediators are sometimes those who are considered “weak” in society, but in this inverted realm they are extremely powerful (Turner 1969). Children, and specifically babies, fall into that category. Among the Paiutes and Shoshones (Nevada), “water babies” are extremely powerful spiritual beings. They serve as spirit helpers of the shaman, i.e., spirits that assist the shamans to bring the world into balance. This is accomplished at places such as caves, springs, and mountains that have a special concentration of potency and powerful beings which can both educate and help the shaman. Generally, “water babies” are considered dangerous, and a shaman must be brave to engage with them and return with new knowledge and understanding of the problem for which he is seeking an answer. However, a powerful rain shaman can connect with them and concentrate great life force for his rainmaking ceremonies (Stoffle et al. 2022). Other groups worldwide share similar concepts, as pointed by Turner, noting that liminality is often associated with ritual powers of the so called “weak” in society. The liminal aspects of these connectedness rituals thus lead to a blurring of the boundaries between the different layers of society, and to the total community are seen as undifferentiated (Turner 1969).

Among the Aztecs and the Inca, mountains play another important role in child-related communication rituals. The Aztecs sacrificed children on mountaintops in honor of the Tlalocs, the mountain deities who controlled rain, hail, and lightning (Headrick 2007). Participants encouraged the children to cry because their tears were thought to mirror the rain the Aztecs hoped to bring. Among the Inca, children aged 3–12, but mostly 3–8, were sacrificed and buried in the high Andes as offerings to the mountain beings. These children had finished nursing and could walk and talk but had not yet reached puberty. According to Inca beliefs, they were able to communicate with these mountain deities (Tung and Knudson 2010). Interestingly, this connection between children and mountains is shared by geographically distant cultures. In traditional Japanese religious practices, the mountains were considered to be the Other World (Hardacre 1983). Children were thought to be closer to the gods and the Other World, which was represented by the mountains, and were believed to be able to interact with the spirits. They thus acted as intermediaries between these two worlds (Iijima 1987). Children were seen as incomplete individuals and it was accepted that up to a certain age, the fate of children was uncertain, and they could return to the Other World at any time but could potentially be reborn in a different form. Following these beliefs, children under the age of seven played important roles in Shinto rituals as mediums, referred to as “child gods” (chigogami) and “loyal messengers” (chokushi). They were also seen as capable of being vessels that gods could possess and through which they could speak. Some of these rituals were linked to transitional periods, such as the New Year and changes of season (Iijima 1987).

Another ritual form of cosmological communication is playing. Play is a universal mechanism that is crucial in shaping childhood, allowing the acquisition of knowledge and skills (Assaf 2021; Carruthers 2002; Gray 2009; Langley et al. 2020; Riede et al. 2018; Nielsen 2012; Sánchez Romero 2017). It also has a liminal aspect: children at play are able to “travel” quite freely between this world and another. In Japan, playing was considered a significant element in the process of communication with the deities (Iijima 1987). Similarly, the Maya believed that skills were given to humans by the gods and were acquired through play. Therefore, children were given figurines to play with as part of a ceremonial act (Kohut 2011).

These ethnographic examples clearly show that children in many cultures worldwide play a role in rituals of communication with cosmic entities. Their mental flexibility and reduced barriers allow them to “travel” between worlds more freely and communicate with other-than-human persons. Returning now to the Paleolithic, we will consider the probable liminality of children in the context of decorated caves.

7. Discussion

What was it like to be a child in the Upper Paleolithic period of Europe and what role might they have played in depiction-making at Upper Paleolithic caves? Finger flutings, hand stencils, and footprints found in French-Cantabrian caves reveal a snapshot: infants, toddlers, and children used to enter these deep, dark arenas, leaving their mark. This extensive collection of visual expressions from the Franco-Cantabrian region offers a great opportunity to investigate the involvement of children as active participants in the creation of the images that must have played a significant role in community life. Likewise, children played a role, at times, in the rituals conducted in these caves, and their presence in deep, dark portals must have had social and spiritual significance. Moreover, the presence of young children in caves reveals how these ancient hunter-gatherers perceived childhood and the role of children. It can be assumed that children accompanied older group members on their quest to the caves in order to learn about this socio-spiritual practice of their community (Cooney Williams and Janik 2018). In turn, participating in these spiritual activities must have profoundly influenced how children themselves perceived and interacted with the world around them. We can also speculate that children may have been drawn to these mysterious locales out of curiosity, as a form of playing, as previously suggested (Langley and Litster 2018), but this was likely not the case for very young children. Still, it may be difficult for us to imagine children, some of them toddlers, in these dark, dangerous, oxygen-depleted locales where they may have suffered from heat stress, hypoxia, and sensory deprivation.

The picture becomes a bit clearer when viewed in light of how indigenous hunter-gatherers perceived caves and childhood. The core values of sharing and intimacy that characterized these societies, along with their emphasis on independence and self-autonomy, afforded young children the opportunity to acquire their skills and knowledge through self-experience. At the same time, they may have accompanied the group’s adults in almost any activity, as active participants. They learned about the importance of these and other pillar values and their application in everyday life from a young age.

The various forms of communication with cosmic elements were not, in contrast to the common misconception, practiced only by particular experienced individuals, usually described as shamans. As pointed out by Dowson, Hill, and others, ”humans and non-human animals, shamans, hunters and gatherers, mothers and fathers, and their children, were all sentient beings” (Dowson 2009, p. 385) who were intimately involved in constituting and reproducing the world in which they lived (Hill 2011). Children, however, as liminal beings, may have been particularly well-suited to communication with the supernatural elements of the world. Due to short life spans and high mortality rates, many cultures viewed children as being closer to the spirit world and the world of the dead. Thus, similarly to shamans, young children are perceived as having an enhanced ability to transform into non-human beings, inhabit their bodies as spiritual beings, communicate with non-human entities, and make contact with the world of their ancestors (Hugh-Jones 1979, p. 125).

One of the main settings for these rituals of communication with the cosmos and its spiritual beings is the cave, considered by many Mesoamerican, Asian, Australian, and African societies as liminal, a portal to the underworld of the ancestors. Interestingly, liminality is frequently linked to death on the one hand, and being in the womb on the other, as well as to invisibility and darkness (Turner 1969). Caves embody exactly that: dark settings associated with the ancestors on the one hand, and seen as the womb of the earth, where life is created, on the other. They enable seclusion and a “moment in and out of time”, as Turner describes (Turner 1969, p. 90). Entering a cave may open a portal of communication with the ancestors and other entities in the world beyond, but it is also a personal journey of rebirth, during which significant knowledge, wisdom, and strength are acquired. Moreover, the cave depictions, which are often in the deepest and most difficult-to-navigate parts of the cave, should be viewed as rituals intended to enhance human connectedness and human relationships with the cosmos, usually conducted during spiritual vision quests in the cave’s depths. Children, once they could walk and talk, might have had special significance in these rituals, due to their enhanced ability to reach out and communicate with their human as well as non-human counterparts. The fact that children as young as two were brought to these oxygen-depleted and sensory-deprived places might thus be related to their special role as liminal beings.

The separation of the sacred from the profane, between the spiritual world of adults and the world of children, and between ritual and play, common in the Western world, is less relevant for many indigenous societies, past and present. For children in the Upper Paleolithic, as well, a similar worldview might have enabled them to take on their unique role in the ontological ethos and make their own distinct contribution to the social and cosmological practices of their community, particularly in deep caves, despite the dangers associated with them. The presence of children’s footprints, handprints, and finger flutings in multiple caves proves that they were present even in the deepest and darkest areas, often accompanied by and cooperating with more mature group members, suggesting that these quests were informed, planned, and repetitive.

Indeed, some scholars question whether we can overcome the problem of geographic and temporal gaps between contemporary indigenous societies and ancient hunter-gatherers and successfully interpret the archaeological record with this approach. However, cross-cultural observations suggest that indigenous societies around the world share similar perceptions of relationships with landscape features and the beings that inhabit them, and these might extend to the role of children. We believe that these core values may have been shared between past and present groups whose lives are intimately entwined with the natural world. We therefore suggest that the theoretical background and archaeological–anthropological evidence presented in this paper lay the ground for examining prehistoric phenomena in this perspective.

8. Conclusions

Upper Paleolithic cave art in Europe is a well-studied phenomenon in prehistory. Research shows that many cave depictions were created by children aged 2 to 12, often with the involvement of their group members. We consider the role of children as liminal agents within indigenous cultures, where relationships with the environment and other-than-human entities are vital for community well-being. We propose that the depictions served as a mediator between humans and the cosmos, reflecting the ontological and cosmological beliefs of early humans. Entering deep caves was likely a conscious choice to connect with the transformative nature of these spaces. Caves were perceived as liminal areas and portals to the underworld, allowing early humans to maintain connections with the cosmos.

Children are a central theme in myths, folktales, and dreams, representing both the human past and its future. They connect us to our own childhood memories while embodying the potential of what they will become. As we think about our children, we also consider their future and our own. According to the famous psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, children, as an archetype, symbolize a bridge between our past and future, rooted in our unconscious. They represent the potential for personal growth and individuality, transcending ego consciousness and even physical existence. In essence, the child serves as a powerful symbol, drawing from the past while moving toward the future, encapsulating the essence of the self (Jung 1969). “The child is potential future”, wrote Jung in one of his iconic essays (Jung and Kerényi 2002, p. 83), “hence the occurrence of the child motif in the psychology of the individual signifies an anticipation of future developments”. Moreover, “it anticipates the figure that comes from the synthesis of conscious and unconscious elements in the personality. It is therefore a symbol which unites the opposites, a mediator, bringer of healing, that is, one who makes a whole” (Jung and Kerényi 2002, p. 83).

In this article, we suggest that the journeys of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to the depths of deep and dangerous caves along with their toddlers and young children, perceived as liminal agents, were perhaps intended to strengthen the foundations of their world and ensure their future existence. In this process, the children themselves gained knowledge, wisdom, and strength. Upper Paleolithic children were therefore able to actively shape their own reality as individuals, as well as the reality of their community and its well-being.