Julie Dunne

These very small, evocative, vessels give us valuable information on how and what babies were fed thousands of years ago, providing a real connection to mothers and infants in the past, similar vessels, although rare, do appear in other prehistoric cultures( such as Rome and ancient Greece) across the world. Ideally, we'd like to carry out a larger geographic study and investigate whether they served the same purpose.

What surprised us most was how much he absolutely loved it, it seemed very intuitive for him to cup it within his hands and then lift to his mouth to drink/suckle. We put apple juice in it as that was his favourite drink. I think it is interesting that although the forms change tremendously -- the vessels are very individual -- they do seem to retain a basic bowl/cup shape that fits perfectly within a baby's cupped hands. I would also say I think this shows us the love and care these prehistoric people had for their babies. They are almost toys as well as baby bottles and surely would have make the infants laugh.