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FOSSILS ET AL
What Role Did Children Play in Prehistoric Times?
Children played an important role in communities, not only during hunting and fishing but also in other activities
As a naturalist and throughout my studies, I have come to understand that young individuals, even in prehistoric times, do not simply grow or feed until they become adults but can play specific roles that enable populations to survive.
Additionally, due to their different skeletal and bodily structures, they could perform tasks that adults could not. For example, young pterosaurs could live in forest environments and be partially arboreal due to their small size, unlike adults, who could grow too large to move from tree to tree.
I also recall a lecture by Professor Fanti, a world-renowned paleontologist from the University of Bologna (Italy), who mentioned that young tyrannosaurids may have acted as “beaters” due to their agility, while the adults waited for prey or were only capable of short bursts of speed due to their massive build. This may have also been true for early humans, with numerous examples of this kind of intergenerational cooperation.
