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What toys have kids played with throughout history?
What toys have kids played with throughout history?
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Sous-titres (81)
0:06
The year is 100 CE,
0:09
and 11-year-old Julia Lucilla is playing with her ivory doll Pompeia.
0:16
Named after the Roman Emperor Trajan’s wife,
0:19
Pompeia is only 20 centimeters tall,
0:22
with joints at her arms, legs, knees, and elbows,
0:26
and a bevy of miniature clothes and accessories.
0:29
With her doll in hand, Julia hosts elaborate dinner parties,
0:34
helps Aeneas escape Troy,
0:36
and accompanies her father on work trips to Egypt.
0:40
This ancient scene is likely familiar to any modern parent,
0:43
and that’s because kids have been going on imaginary adventures with their toys
0:48
for thousands of years.
0:52
While the most common ancient playthings would likely have been sticks and rocks,
0:56
evidence of their use for play is archaeologically invisible.
1:00
However, archaeologists have found material, visual, and written evidence
1:05
for toys across the ancient world.
1:08
In Anatolia circa 3000 BCE,
1:12
miniature toy carriages raced through the dirt
1:14
at the hands of energetic youngsters.
1:17
A thousand years later, in the Indus Valley,
1:19
a toddler giggled gleefully
1:21
at the chirping sound created by their dove-shaped terracotta whistle.
1:25
Alongside whistles and wheeled toys,
1:28
dolls are another common ancient plaything,
1:31
though they can be a little harder to identify.
1:35
While some archaeologists think ancient female figurines
1:38
found across Afro-Eurasia may have been children’s toys,
1:42
others believe them to be sacred fertility idols.
1:46
But we do know dolls like Pompeia were popular in Greece and Rome,
1:50
with hair and clothes designed to reflect changing adult fashions.
1:55
And thousands of years later in the Arctic,
1:57
Inuit children carried fur-clad dolls carved of wood or walrus tusk.
2:04
But perhaps the most common ancient toy is the humble ball.
2:08
Thousands of years ago,
2:10
children in ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Mesoamerica
2:14
kicked and threw balls made of everything
2:16
from leather and linen to papyrus and palm fiber.
2:20
The rules for most of their games have been lost to time,
2:23
however some kids may have imitated adult games we know more about.
2:27
For example, ancient Greek children might have played episkuros,
2:31
a team sport where players competed
2:33
to push their opponents outside the pitch by hurling the ball as far as possible.
2:38
Meanwhile, Mesoamerican kids might have played a game
2:41
where players try to hit a rubber ball through a hoop using only their hips.
2:45
Then again, in some cultures, this game had religious significance,
2:49
so it's possible those children steered clear of this sacred sport.
2:54
In any case, rougher, physical play was often limited
2:57
by ancient gender expectations,
3:00
with young girls being left out of rowdier ball games in Rome and Egypt.
3:04
Spartan girls circa 400 CE
3:07
did engage in the same rigorous physical activities as boys,
3:11
but largely because adults believed it would strengthen their bodies
3:14
for childbearing.
3:16
Fortunately, this wasn’t the only reason ancient adults encouraged kids to play.
3:21
Athenian philosopher Plato observed that toys like building blocks
3:25
and miniature farming implements were useful tools
3:28
for learning the skills needed in adulthood.
3:31
That said, many ancient cultures expected children to give up their games and toys
3:36
as they grew up.
3:37
A common Roman phrase described a child “giving up nuts”
3:41
when taking up their adult responsibilities
3:44
since nuts were used in a variety of simple games.
3:48
And young Roman girls left their dolls as offerings to the gods
3:51
as part of preparing for their wedding.
3:54
However, other childhood games resembled those
3:56
men and women continued to enjoy into adulthood.
4:00
One, called knucklebones, was popular across the ancient Mediterranean.
4:05
Usually crafted from the ankle bones of sheep or pigs,
4:08
they could be used as jacks or dice,
4:11
with different faces earning different point values.
4:14
In addition to games of chance,
4:16
ancient adults played a variety of strategic board games,
4:20
which may have been introduced during childhood.
4:22
Some particularly well-recorded examples include
4:25
the Royal Game of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia,
4:29
Go in China, Senet in Egypt,
4:32
and Ludus latrunculorum— or, the Game of Soldiers— in Rome.
4:38
Today, playful kids follow the same instincts as their ancient ancestors.
4:44
They continue to make up ball games, invent stories for their favorite dolls,
4:50
and send toy cars skittering across the floor.
4:55
Because the simplest kinds of play never get old.
What toys have kids played with throughout history? - Video học tiếng Anh
