How were
Stone Age babies
raised?
Can't play sound? The illustrated version is right below.
Read the transcript
The full narration of the video.
Three a.m., and the baby wakes up crying. You rock him with one arm and mix formula in the dark with the other. Thirty thousand years ago, in the Ice Age, there was no formula and no diapers. So how did anyone raise a baby back then? The biggest part of the answer hides in one number: a dozen or more people. But first, let's spend one day with an Ice Age baby.
Nobody kept a diary back then. What we know comes partly from bones and teeth dug out of the ground, and partly from people who still live by hunting and gathering today. From dawn on, the baby is pressed against a grown-up. Among one foraging people in southern Africa, for more than eighty percent of the day, babies were held or carried. Hungry? No waiting. Babies there nursed about four times an hour, around two minutes each time.
A little older, and real food comes in. Teeth grow in rings like a tree, keeping a record of what a child ate. Ancient children tens of thousands of years ago started eating more than milk at five or six months. Too tough to chew? A grown-up chews it first. Among over a hundred recorded cultures, about one in three feed babies this way. And breast milk usually goes on for years. And diapers? Honestly, no trace survives. In foraging groups today, a mother is always holding her baby, so a squirm or a grunt tells her it's time.
When the baby cries, someone answers right away. One study counted: more than nine in ten cries got a response within fifteen seconds. But life was not easy. Scientists estimate that out of every four babies back then, about one didn't live to its first birthday. How much they were loved, the bones remember too. In Austria, archaeologists found twins from over thirty thousand years ago. One died at birth; the other lived about fifty days.
They were dusted with red pigment and wore ivory beads, and a mammoth's shoulder blade was laid over them. In a Danish grave six or seven thousand years old, a baby born too early was laid on a swan's wing. Now back to that number. Mothers had to gather food and sleep too, so who held the baby?
In one forest foraging people of Central Africa, a baby had fourteen different caregivers on average: dad, grandma, big brothers and sisters, neighbors. By about four months old, others were spending more time with the baby than mom was. So Ice Age babies had no formula and no diapers, but they had a whole camp of hands. Rocking at night, chewing food soft, the whole family taking turns: these skills are tens of thousands of years old. How many people take turns with the baby at your house? Tell us the number.
No formula,
no diapers
Thirty thousand years ago, in the Ice Age, there was no formula, no diapers and no crib. So how did a baby make it, day after day?
First, nobody kept a diary back then. What we know comes from two places:
Always on
someone's body
Among one foraging people in southern Africa, scientists found babies were held or carried more than 80% of the day.
Hungry? No waiting.
Four feeds an hour,
about two minutes each.
A menu
hidden in a tooth
Teeth grow layer by layer, like tree rings, and keep a record of what a child ate. Baby teeth from three Neanderthal children found in Italy (Neanderthals were another kind of ancient human, living alongside our ancestors) show they began eating more than milk at about five or six months. That's around when babies today start teething and trying solids.
Too tough to chew? A grown-up chewed it first. In more than a hundred recorded cultures, about one in three fed children this way.
Breast milk usually went on for years: bones from many sites suggest hunter-gatherer children were fully weaned somewhere between two and five or six.
Diapers?
No trace left
Things like diapers and pads rot quickly, so archaeology can't find them. In foraging groups today, a mother holding her baby all day can tell from a squirm or a grunt that it's time, and quickly holds the baby out.
In recent centuries, some peoples of North America and the Arctic lined cradles with dry moss and swapped it when dirty. Whether Ice Age parents did the same, nobody knows.
A cry,
and someone comes
In that same southern African group, one study counted babies' cries:
More than 9 in 10 cries
got a response
within 15 seconds.
Life was hard,
love was not scarce
Combining foraging groups and historical records, scientists estimate that in ancient times about one baby in four did not live to see a first birthday.
Twins in Austria One died at birth, the other lived about fifty days. They were dusted with red pigment and wore mammoth-ivory beads, and a mammoth's shoulder blade covered the grave like a little roof.
Six or seven thousand years ago, after the Ice Age, in a grave in Denmark, a baby born too early was laid on a swan's wing, next to its mother.
One baby,
fourteen caregivers
Mothers had to gather food and sleep too. So who held the baby? In one forest people of Central Africa, scientists counted:
On average, 14 people
took turns caring
for each baby.
Dad, grandma, big brothers and sisters, neighbors, mostly relatives. By about four months old, others were spending more time with the baby than mom was. The numbers vary from group to group, but "the whole camp helps raise the baby" shows up everywhere.
No diapers.
Just a whole camp
of hands.
these skills are tens of thousands of years old.
How many people take turns with the baby at your house? Give us a number.
Quick check
With no formula and no diapers, what mainly kept Ice Age babies going?
Moms had to gather food and sleep too; in one Central African foraging group, about 14 people took turns with each baby.
