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Prehistoric children as young as eight worked as brickmakers and miners

Bones and artefacts suggest that kids laboured at skilled tasks thousands of years ago.
  1. Traci Watson
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A surge of interest in the archaeology of childhood is revealing details of the skilled and sometimes back-breaking work that youngsters performed hundreds to thousands of years ago.

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Nature 561, 445-446 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06747-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 21 September 2018: The picture caption incorrectly stated that the image was of Bronze Age children: it's an illustration of Iron Age kids. Also, the affiliation for Mélie Le Roy should be the Mediterranean Laboratory of Prehistory in Europe and Africa-UMR 7269.

References

  1. Le Roy, M. Ardèche Archéol. 35, 12-18 (2018).

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  2. Dorland, S. G. H. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 21, 298–304 (2018).

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