Children’s Games in the Sociocultural Space of a Siberian Town: Historical and Archaeological Context

This article describes a collection of toys from a manor in the medieval town of Tara, the Omsk Region, in a broad historical context. We focus on the spatial arrangement of toys on the manor’s plan, evidencing the overlap of the adult’s world with that of children, which is relevant to the development of children’s self-awareness and socialization through play. Games are an active form whereby children organize their space within the adults’ world and after its pattern. Toys help them assert themselves and “inhabit” the domestic world of the manor. The children’s presence in the space of the house, that of the estate, and that of the town is marked by various toys, such as mock weapons, balls, whistles shaped like birds, tiny dishes, knucklebones, svaikas (sharpened iron rods, which, when thrown, were meant to stick in the ground inside iron rings), small knives, etc. The reconstruction of children’s games within the excavated manor can be projected onto the entire town, since homesteads were the main habitats. Children belonging to various social classes played inside houses, in backyards, pastures, and areas between the estates. Because the living zone was mastered through play, games played an important role in the organization of the town’s socio-cultural space. As the children grew, their space expanded beyond the family limits.