( CNN ) -- Prehistoric children as young as three were encouraged by adults to make cave art 13,000 years ago , new research shows . The Cambridge University study sheds new light on the lives of children and the ancient art they made during the prehistoric hunter gatherer period in the French caverns at Rouffignac , known as the Cave of a Hundred Mammoths . While the caverns are famous for their striking drawings of woolly mammoths , bison and horses , the research focused on the thousands of lines made by people running their fingers along the soft clay walls throughout the five mile cavern complex . Cambridge archaeologists were able to identify the age and gender of the children who made the simple ancient art form known as `` finger fluting '' by measuring the width of the flutings and the profile of the middle three fingers . `` We have found marks by children aged between three and seven years old -- and we have been able to identify four individual children by matching up their marks , '' said Cambridge University archaeologist Jess Cooney . `` The most prolific of the children who made flutings was aged around five -- and we are almost certain the child in question was a girl . '' The fact that archaeologists did n't find a single place where fluting marks were made by adults alone suggests there were few boundaries between adult and child activities in this prehistoric hunter gatherer culture , according to Cooney . Not only did the adults make art alongside the children , Cooney says the fact that child-sized flutings were found on the ceilings of some cave chambers means adults actively encouraged them to make art , lifting them up to areas they could not reach alone . `` Some of the children 's flutings are high up on the walls and on the ceilings , so they must have been held up to make them or have been sitting on someone 's shoulders , '' she said . The archaeologists believe one of the caverns is so dominated by children 's flutings that it may actually have been a `` special place '' set aside for them by the adults . `` We sometimes think of one chamber as a playpen of sorts , since there are hundreds of children 's flutings but only a few made by adults , '' said Cooney . Why people made finger flutings , which also appear in caves in Spain , New Guinea and Australia , is anyone 's guess . `` We do n't know why people made them . We can make guesses like they were for initiation rituals , for training of some kind , or simply something to do on a rainy day , '' said Cooney . The children were n't simply running their hands mindlessly along the cavern walls , however . Research in 2006 revealed children had made hut-like shapes called tectiforms -- the first known instance of prehistoric children engaging in symbolic figure-making , according to Cooney . Cooney says her research shines a light on an aspect of history that is typically ignored in academia . `` It 's important to realize that children played a major role in the development of not only art , but what it means to be human , '' she said .
Prehistoric children as young as three made cave art 13,000 years ago . Score: 6 Flutings found high above ground suggest adults encouraged children .