Posted on 08/04/2011 7:49:45 PM PDT by decimon
It's not easy to study the elderly in a society where life was all too often cut short by disease, childbirth and injuries. But new research on people living in the Bronze Age suggests the elderly began to gain power over a 600-year period in Austria.
The findings rely on skeletal aging and a comparison of objects placed in graves of individuals of different ages. As time passed in the small farming hamlets of lower Austria, researchers reported online July 15 in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, older men began to be buried with copper axes, a privilege not granted to younger men. That might indicate that in some ancient societies, the elders were in charge, said study researcher Jo Appleby, a research fellow in archaeology and anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
"It also shows that within the past there was change in one small area in quite a limited time period," Appleby told LiveScience. "We can't assume that the elderly will have good status or bad status in any given context."
Ancient elders
Studying the social status of the elderly is difficult, because scientists have a hard time pinning down the age of older adult bones. You can determine that a person was elderly, Appleby said, but it's hard to tell whether "elderly" meant 65 or 85.
Researchers often assume that in ancient societies, the elderly had power. But Appleby noted that in modern life, older people are often shunted aside. We assume they're forgetful or degenerating, she said. The question was whether our ancestors would have thought the same, or whether they really did respect their elders.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Axe termination ping.
You know nowadays
Well it’s the old man’s
Got all the money
And a young man
Ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
Most intriguing.
And a young man... has youth. :)
Biggest ironies of life — very little money, but good health; some money, but less good health.
I thought it was about the time AARP was formed...
AARP forced through the Bronze Axe Burial Act (BABA). Being buried with a bronze axe was then considered a basic human right.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks decimon....suggests the elderly began to gain power over a 600-year period in Austria.Sure, but everyone must have started givin' 'em guff by the time they were 550 or so. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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They will be able to date the era where the eldery gained power with some exactness when they find the remains of an old woman with a peach tree switch.
Human society today is probably remarkably similar to the ancients when looking for the symbols and appurtances of real power. In my younger days, that was the ultimate symbol of adult power when wielded by my grandmother.
ouch! sounds painful...
Yeah, but I wouldn’t throw rocks at the chickens for at least six months.
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