Many thanks for the information. However, it appears to me that we
need to formulate some form of theoretical perspective which allows
us in some way to examine the possible forms of influence or roles in
which youth contributed to a prehistoric society. Cultural pluralism
seems often to be neglected in interpretations and certainly youth
represent a sectional interest in(modern?) society, perhaps even a
sub-culture or sub-set of a culture. Maybe this is an area where
classical antiquity and certainly ethnographic accounts, can shed
some light or be used in analogy to take us back to the prehistoric
record.
I will certainly check out the reference you suggested
Regards
Steve Thomson
24.2.99 Clifford brown wrote....
Dear Steve:
Very interesting question. Have you considered the material correlates of
age-grading or gerontocracy?
I know of at least one example in the literature of a site (Mayapan,
Yucatan, Mexico) where (some) archaeologists believe that they have
identified communal houses where unmarried young men lived in the middle of
town, the equivalent of the "calmecac" among the Aztecs.
Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico, by H. E. D. Pollock, A. L. Smith, Ralph L. Roys,
and Tatiana Proskouriakoff. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication
619. Washington, D.C.
Cheers!
Clifford
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|