The mystery of the ancient buzzes is just one of many archaeological puzzles related to children's play, and one that highlights many of the pitfalls of studying it. We know that children played. We know they often played with objects. But other questions, such as which objects, and in what way, have remained stubbornly difficult to pinpoint. So difficult, in fact, that they've inspired archaeology's version of a "dad joke": an archaeologist finds a small object. "Hey, what's this?" he asks. "I dunno," says another. "Must be a toy… or a religious object!"
