The Importance of an ‘Unimportant’ Toy: Children in the Ancient Domestic Sphere

This paper examines an often-overlooked sector of households: children. The paper first presents the importance of children within the framework of the household and society, pointing out significant references from textual sources and imagery, such as orthostats. Then, a set of artifacts identified in the archaeological record is presented, which may be defined as spinning toys, comprising two components: a string and a perforated object. The conclusions discuss the way these toys reflect on the importance of children in society.