Stephanie Greer, age 11, of Johnson City, Tenn., for her question:
HOW LONG HAVE CHILDREN BEEN PLAYING WITH DOLLS?
Archeological records tell us that children of prehistoric times enjoyed playing with dolls just as much as children today enjoy playing with them. Dolls or tiny figures made of wood, clay and bones have been found in the ancient graves of children in every part of the world.
For most children, dolls have been important playthings and companions. However, not all dolls hays been toys. Some dolls were first used only is religious ceremonies. And in early French history, fashion dolls were sent to other countries to show the latest in French fashion trends.
Explorers of cliff dwellings in the Southwestern part of the United States found dolls made of cottonwood sticks wrapped with skirts made of cedar bark and cotton rags. Collectors have found colonial dolls made with stuffed cloth bodies, prim painted faces, tiny pointed feet and old fashioned clothes. They have also found dolls made of animal skins stuffed with sawdust or cork and heads made of wax, papier mache and even china.
Today's dolls are made with rubber, plastic, vinyl and other materials.
And today's dolls come in all possible varieties: baby dolls, costume and character dolls and everything in between.
Leading countries that manufacture dolls are the United States, Austria and the Netherlands.
The heads of most of today's expensive dolls are carefully molded in clay by talented artists. Then a mold is made from this model, usually in two pieces so that it can be taken apart easily. The finished mold is then filled with plastic, vinyl or some other unbreakable material.
After the material has hardened, the head is taken from the mold and painted.
Among today's popular toys are paper dolls. They are cut out dolls made of simple paper or heavy cardboard and they come with complete changes of almost every type of clothing imaginable.
Egyptian dolls dating back to about 2000 B.C. were called paddle dolls because they were carved from flat pieces of wood shaped like paddles. They were painted with patterns to look like clothes and had strings of clay beads to represent hair.
Paddle dolls were not toys. They were religious figures and were buried with the dead to provide them with servants in the next world.
Doll like figures from Greek and Roman tombs dating from about 300 B.C. had jointed, movable arms and legs. Some were carved from bone or ivory but most were made of clay or wood. Scholars haven't decided whether these were toys or religious objects.
Strangely, almost no dolls from the Middle Ages have survived. A few manuscripts tell us that boys and girls of the time played with balls and kites, but there is no mention of dolls.