Children and adults left fingerprints on Natufian clay figures
Fingerprints on ancient clay objects in Israel point to children and adults taking part in their manufacture. A peer-reviewed archaeological study examined figurines and fragments from three Natufian sites dating to before farming societies. Overlapping impressions on a human figure suggest that it changed hands, although the makers’ precise ages and the role of teaching remain uncertain.
Science··Midday
Clay figures predate farming communities
Children and adults left fingerprints on Natufian clay figures found in Israel. The impressions connect both age groups with making the objects, although ridge widths cannot identify every individual maker. The peer-reviewed archaeological study was published on November 11.[1], [2]
The finds came from el-Wad Terrace, Hayonim Terrace and Eynan-Mallaha, three archaeological sites in Israel. They belong to the Natufian culture, dating to approximately 15,000–11,650 calibrated years before the present. Researchers reassessed around 40 kilograms of heated clay from excavation collections, comparing shape, surfaces, mineral composition, colour and microscopic traces of manufacture.[1]
Birds dominate the surviving figurines
Of the 154 objects examined, 15 were classified as figurines: 11 birds, two mammal heads and two human figures. The remaining 139 were cylinders, mostly interpreted as figurine bodies or fragments. Only two objects survived complete. Some pieces retained red, iron-rich clay coatings and tool marks; repeated bird shapes support a shared manufacturing tradition.[1]
Overlapping prints record an object changing hands
Fingerprints on two figurines and five cylinders were assessed alongside previously studied objects from the same assemblages. Comparison data came from 118 Czech participants aged one to 77, with adjustments for clay shrinkage during drying and heating. On one human figure, a child's impression overlapped an older person's. That sequence is compatible with the object changing hands during manufacture, without establishing a teaching session.[1]
Suitable impressions occurred on less than a tenth of the material. Overlapping ridge widths also limit age and sex assignments. The figures document symbolic clay production before farming in this region; their meanings, the balance between play and instruction, and whether heating was deliberate remain uncertain.[1]
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