The next World Archaeological Congress will be held this year (28 August to 2 September 2016) in the Japanese heritage city of Kyoto, conference details at http://wac8.org. There will be a session on the archaeology of childhood, which is on the program as T05-B ‘Comparing Archaeologies of Childhood’.
The panel organisers welcome submissions for presentations at this session:
‘In most of the past, children represented almost half of the human population, yet despite periodic symposia and case studies, children are still under-represented in archaeological work. This session will consider interpretations, methodology and theoretical approaches in our current archaeological understanding of children and childhood, and how the social, cultural, economic, medical and biological life of children changed over time. What is common ground, and what differs by time and place, from Australopithecines to recent historical societies? What new questions can be asked of existing data, in both prehistoric and historical societies? How much can we draw on studies and analogies from historic, ethnographic and primate biological studies to help in understanding childhood in an archaeological context? What kinds of material culture inform us of the lives of children, and of mothers with infants? What evidence does archaeology uncover for experimental learning and apprenticeship in skills (stone tools, food provision, advanced crafts)? And what does the presence or absence of child burials (and associated rituals and grave goods) tell us of the roles of children while alive?’
Formal submission should be sent through the World Archaeological Congress website at: http://wac8.org/call-for-submissions/call-for-papers. The deadline is 30 April 2016.