Rattling the past: How ancient toys shake up our understanding of childhood

The Star

20-05-2025

Toymakers have been around far longer than many people realise, a Danish researcher told AFP Friday after the discovery of 19 ancient rattles some dating back at least 4 500 years.
Mette Marie Hald, co-author of the study detailing the discovery published in the scientific journal "Childhood in the Past", laid out her findings to AFP.
"We argue that the rattles served as toys to amuse and calm infants, rather than as musical instruments, based on the low noise level of the rattles and the relatively small size of their handles," says the summary of the paper.
Hald even suggested museum curators should take a second look at their collections in case objects originally classified as religious artefacts were actually carefully crafted toys.
"If you wanted to entertain your child, you could just give them a wooden spoon or a stone," she said.
But even then, parents had the option to spoil their young ones with fancier alternatives.
"4 500 years ago, parents would go to the market and buy toys made by professionals," she explained.
Researchers discovered pieces of 19 clay rattles made in Hama, Syria, dating back to the Bronze Age, in the collections of the National Museum of Denmark.
According to Hald, the quality of the rattles means they couldn't have been made by the parents themselves.
She hopes the discovery will encourage professionals to look at clay fragments more carefully because other objects, light figurines, might turn out to be toys.
"They are often considered religious figurines placed in a temple ... but we wonder if these can be toys made for children, as there is a lot of variety and they look very funny," the researcher noted.
Mostly, such finds are unearthed as shattered fragments so the toys are difficult to recognise.
As such, researchers have developed an identification guide specifically designed to identify rattles.