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82,000 year old jewellery found
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| At work in the caves |
Archaeologists from Oxford have discovered what are thought to be the oldest examples of human decorations in the world.
The international team of archaeologists, led by Oxford University's Institute of Archaeology, have found shell beads believed to be 82,000 years old from a limestone cave in Morocco.
Institute director Prof Nick Barton said: "Bead-making in Africa was a widespread practice at the time, which was spread between cultures with different stone technology by exchange or by long-distance social networks.
"A major question in evolutionary studies today is 'how early did humans begin to think and behave in ways we would see as fundamentally modern?'
"The appearance of ornaments such as these may be linked to a growing sense of self-awareness and identity among humans and cultural innovations must have played a large role in human development."
The handmade beads were found at the Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt, in Eastern Morocco during a four to five year excavation in the region.
Prof Barton said the finds suggest that humans were making purely symbolic objects 40,000 years before they did it in Europe.
The beads themselves comprise 12 Nassarius shells - Nassarius are molluscs found in warm seas and coral reefs in America, Asia and the Pacific - which had holes in them and appeared to have been suspended or hung. They were covered in red ochre.
Similar beads have been found at sites in Algeria, Israel and South Africa which are thought to date back to around the same time or slightly after the finds from Taforalt.
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| The jewellery found by the archeologists |
The team, which includes archaeologists from Morocco, France and Germany as well as the UK, believe that similar shells are present in other sites in Morocco.
Dating results from the shells are still awaited, but the team believe some may be even older than those found in Taforalt.
The team has recently secured funding for a further four to five years of research in the area from the Natural Environment Research Council. Further research will look at early humans in Africa and how they spread around the world.
A paper on the team's findings is featured in this month's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published today.
4:30pm Monday 4th June 2007
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CommentPosted by: John, -- on 6:05am Tue 5 Jun 07
One of the central problems with the proposition that fully modern humans evolved in Africa is that dramatically advanced modern behavior, including life-like realistic sculpture, appears suddenly on the west coast of Europe 40,000 years ago. No path leading to Europe. Nothing more advanced earlier in Africa.
This was left conveniently unmentioned during the 1990s as Out-of-Africanists went on a desperate hunt for something earlier. They now have a rock with zigzag lines, and shells with holes, which they claim are 80,000 years old, and tell us this proves everything right. But if going from no zigzag lines to zigzag lines in Africa is a genetically-based evolutionary revolution -- what is going from zigzag lines to lifelike sculpture and the cave paintings of Lascaux in Western Europe and nowhere else on the planet? And by the way, what are "modern humans" doing making necklaces in Syro-Palestine 80,000 years ago if no modern humans left Africa until 60,000 years ago, or 50,000 years ago, as continuously repeated in the popular press?
One of the central problems with the proposition that fully modern humans evolved in Africa is that dramatically advanced modern behavior, including life-like realistic sculpture, appears suddenly on the west coast of Europe 40,000 years ago. No path leading to Europe. Nothing more advanced earlier in Africa.
This was left conveniently unmentioned during the 1990s as Out-of-Africanists went on a desperate hunt for something earlier. They now have a rock with zigzag lines, and shells with holes, which they claim are 80,000 years old, and tell us this proves everything right. But if going from no zigzag lines to zigzag lines in Africa is a genetically-based evolutionary revolution -- what is going from zigzag lines to lifelike sculpture and the cave paintings of Lascaux in Western Europe and nowhere else on the planet? And by the way, what are "modern humans" doing making necklaces in Syro-Palestine 80,000 years ago if no modern humans left Africa until 60,000 years ago, or 50,000 years ago, as continuously repeated in the popular press?
Posted by: Trevor Watkins, North Queensferry, Fife on 10:23am Tue 5 Jun 07
Response to John, rather than the news story itself. The earliest appearance of Homo sapiens outside Africa is earlier than 100,000 years ago, and the evidence is human burials at two sites in northern Israel. That early appearance apparently leads nowhere. So it is not just the relatively late appearance of modern humans in western Europe that is problematical; the relatively early appearance of modern humans in Australia, and the very early appearance of H. sapiens in the Levant also point to the fact that we still have big black holes in our knowledge. Discoveries like that reported from eastern Morocco help to nibble away at that great black hole.
Response to John, rather than the news story itself. The earliest appearance of Homo sapiens outside Africa is earlier than 100,000 years ago, and the evidence is human burials at two sites in northern Israel. That early appearance apparently leads nowhere. So it is not just the relatively late appearance of modern humans in western Europe that is problematical; the relatively early appearance of modern humans in Australia, and the very early appearance of H. sapiens in the Levant also point to the fact that we still have big black holes in our knowledge. Discoveries like that reported from eastern Morocco help to nibble away at that great black hole.
Posted by: Tom, Cedar City, Utah, USA on 5:53pm Tue 5 Jun 07
I think the whole idea that modern man evolved almost overnight in Africa and then came boiling out to overwhelm the world is fraught with problems, these shells beads being the latest example thereof. Homo Erectus was making great strides in Asia and elsewhere. It is much eaiser to postulate that man evolved uniformly and on a worldwide basis.
I think the whole idea that modern man evolved almost overnight in Africa and then came boiling out to overwhelm the world is fraught with problems, these shells beads being the latest example thereof. Homo Erectus was making great strides in Asia and elsewhere. It is much eaiser to postulate that man evolved uniformly and on a worldwide basis.
Posted by: L Ron Hubbub, US on 6:14pm Tue 5 Jun 07
<i>The beads themselves comprise 12 Nassarius shells - Nassarius are molluscs found in warm seas and coral reefs in America, Asia and the Pacific...</i>
Shells from America, Asia or the Pacific used for decoration in Morocco 80,000 years BP? AM I missing something here?
<i>The beads themselves comprise 12 Nassarius shells - Nassarius are molluscs found in warm seas and coral reefs in America, Asia and the Pacific...</i>
Shells from America, Asia or the Pacific used for decoration in Morocco 80,000 years BP? AM I missing something here?
Posted by: Beadman, Santa Rosa, CA on 10:21pm Tue 5 Jun 07
There are two issues that must be addressed with this situation. 1) The problem of dating. How old ARE these objects? That is likely to be controversial (as happened with the similar Nassarius shells from South Africa two years ago. 2) It must be determined that the holes are intentional perforations, and not accidental. Seashells frequently have holes because of predators; or because of circumstances, such as rolling around in the water on the sea bed, thus becoming broken. Naturally-perforated shells might become "beads" if found and so-used. But this would be difficult—if not impossible—to prove from a context believed to have been some 82,000 years ago. If it can be demonstrated that the perforations are intentional (caused via the use of a tool), then clearly these ARE beads.
Jamey D. Allen, Co-Founder of the Society of Bead Researchers (1981).
There are two issues that must be addressed with this situation. 1) The problem of dating. How old ARE these objects? That is likely to be controversial (as happened with the similar Nassarius shells from South Africa two years ago. 2) It must be determined that the holes are intentional perforations, and not accidental. Seashells frequently have holes because of predators; or because of circumstances, such as rolling around in the water on the sea bed, thus becoming broken. Naturally-perforated shells might become "beads" if found and so-used. But this would be difficult—if not impossible—to prove from a context believed to have been some 82,000 years ago. If it can be demonstrated that the perforations are intentional (caused via the use of a tool), then clearly these ARE beads.
Jamey D. Allen, Co-Founder of the Society of Bead Researchers (1981).
Posted by: Rick, America on 3:55am Wed 6 Jun 07
Ooh yeah, the PHOTOS of the jewelry collection are.....not there?
Why in the WORLD does the news wires release such crap while with-holding vital info?
Capital gain??????
Ooh yeah, the PHOTOS of the jewelry collection are.....not there?
Why in the WORLD does the news wires release such crap while with-holding vital info?
Capital gain??????
Posted by: Henning, Europq on 5:44am Wed 6 Jun 07
Agree with Rick.
What's the point of an article like this and [bold]no photos[/bold] of the jewellery. It's like an article about real aliens from outer space landing in front of the white house without any pictures.
Agree with Rick.
What's the point of an article like this and
no photos of the jewellery. It's like an article about real aliens from outer space landing in front of the white house without any pictures.
Posted by: Malcolm Bradbrook, Digital Content Manager, Newsquest Oxfordshire on 10:25am Wed 6 Jun 07
Rick and Henning,
You are quite right and I apologise for the omission.
I have now added a picture.
Rick and Henning,
You are quite right and I apologise for the omission.
I have now added a picture.
Posted by: M. Dougherty on 4:00pm Wed 6 Jun 07
Is there any further information as to the origin of the shells (i.e. America, Asia, Pacific)?
Is there any further information as to the origin of the shells (i.e. America, Asia, Pacific)?
Posted by: Beadman, Santa Rosa on 9:54pm Wed 6 Jun 07
Dear M D. When it's written that these mollusks are found in the "Americas, Asia, and Pacific," they are basically saying Nassarius (or nassa) can be found in waters all around the world. The Moroccan examples came from some convenient more-or-less local place. I doubt that anyone intended to imply they were imported from the other side of the planet. Nevertheless, seashells have been significant trade items for countless thousands of years. But Morocco has a sea coast. Jamey
Dear M D. When it's written that these mollusks are found in the "Americas, Asia, and Pacific," they are basically saying Nassarius (or nassa) can be found in waters all around the world. The Moroccan examples came from some convenient more-or-less local place. I doubt that anyone intended to imply they were imported from the other side of the planet. Nevertheless, seashells have been significant trade items for countless thousands of years. But Morocco has a sea coast. Jamey
Posted by: Spanners, Britain on 11:03am Thu 7 Jun 07
Tom, whilst I agree that the 'out of Africa' hypothesis has a few problems, it has provided several million years' worth of fossil evidence of the gradual development of hominids toward the worldwide distributions that are found with homo erectus. Nothing 'almost overnight' about it.
Also, the suggestion that uniform evolution in homo erectus populations in, say, China and southern Africa could bring about one homo sapiens species doesn't tally with the observed evidence of how speciation seems to work. Isolated breeding groups tend to become more different from their parent species, not more similar. But then, that's one of the real problems in the study of human evolution these days - How did we come from such diversity, yet have such uniformity?
Tom, whilst I agree that the 'out of Africa' hypothesis has a few problems, it has provided several million years' worth of fossil evidence of the gradual development of hominids toward the worldwide distributions that are found with homo erectus. Nothing 'almost overnight' about it.
Also, the suggestion that uniform evolution in homo erectus populations in, say, China and southern Africa could bring about one homo sapiens species doesn't tally with the observed evidence of how speciation seems to work. Isolated breeding groups tend to become more different from their parent species, not more similar. But then, that's one of the real problems in the study of human evolution these days - How did we come from such diversity, yet have such uniformity?
Posted by: Tim Jones, London on 4:13pm Wed 4 Jul 07
Although these beads are certainly old at 82,000 bp, they are by no means the earliest examples of symbolic activity by mankind - there is evidence going back to 400,000 years with the Tan Tan figurine from Morocco, as well as disc beads made from ostrich eggshell, at Lake Fezzan in Libya from the Acheulean - Robert Bednarik has a paper online called 'The Technology and use of beads in the Pleistocene' at semioticon.com, in which further examples of symbolic behaviour by predecessors of Homo sapiens are suggested.
Although these beads are certainly old at 82,000 bp, they are by no means the earliest examples of symbolic activity by mankind - there is evidence going back to 400,000 years with the Tan Tan figurine from Morocco, as well as disc beads made from ostrich eggshell, at Lake Fezzan in Libya from the Acheulean - Robert Bednarik has a paper online called 'The Technology and use of beads in the Pleistocene' at semioticon.com, in which further examples of symbolic behaviour by predecessors of Homo sapiens are suggested.
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Posted by: Paragon, India on 11:32am Sat 15 Sep 07
There was life earlier to this. The earliest of books found is the Vedas and by Hinduism religion the below is true:
One Cycle of Yugas consists of --
Satya Yuga (also called Krita Yuga)
This first age is 1,728,000 human years. Also known as the Golden Age or age of Truth. The qualities of this age are: virtue reigns supreme; human stature is 21 cubits; lifespan is a lakh of years, and death occurs only when willed.
Treta Yuga
This second age is 1,296,000 human years. Also known as the Silver Age. The qualities of this age are: the climate is three quarters virtue and one quarter sin; human stature is 14 cubits; lifespan is 10,000 years.
Dvapara Yuga
This third age is 864,000 human years. Also known as the Bronze Age. The qualities of this age are: the climate is one half virtue and one half sin; lifespan is 1,000 years.
Kali Yuga
The fourth and last age is 432,000 human years. Also known as the Iron Age. This is the age in which we are presently living. The qualities of this age are: the climate is one quarter virtue and three quarters sin; human stature is 3.5 cubits; lifespan is 100 or 120 years.
We have completed 5200 years in Kaliyuga !
This cycle repeats after a Pralaya at the end of each Yuga!
Age of Brahma -
7 Times the above Yuga Cycle = 12 Hrs of Brahma
We are in the day time 12 hrs of Brahma. There will be no life during the night time 12 hrs of Brahma - "Pralaya". Veda and all the Atman rests back in Mahavishnu until the day of Brahma arrives. On the dawn all the Atman and the Vedas are planted back onto various planets as per their 'Karma'!
Read more in Hindu scriptures!
There was life earlier to this. The earliest of books found is the Vedas and by Hinduism religion the below is true:
One Cycle of Yugas consists of --
Satya Yuga (also called Krita Yuga)
This first age is 1,728,000 human years. Also known as the Golden Age or age of Truth. The qualities of this age are: virtue reigns supreme; human stature is 21 cubits; lifespan is a lakh of years, and death occurs only when willed.
Treta Yuga
This second age is 1,296,000 human years. Also known as the Silver Age. The qualities of this age are: the climate is three quarters virtue and one quarter sin; human stature is 14 cubits; lifespan is 10,000 years.
Dvapara Yuga
This third age is 864,000 human years. Also known as the Bronze Age. The qualities of this age are: the climate is one half virtue and one half sin; lifespan is 1,000 years.
Kali Yuga
The fourth and last age is 432,000 human years. Also known as the Iron Age. This is the age in which we are presently living. The qualities of this age are: the climate is one quarter virtue and three quarters sin; human stature is 3.5 cubits; lifespan is 100 or 120 years.
We have completed 5200 years in Kaliyuga !
This cycle repeats after a Pralaya at the end of each Yuga!
Age of Brahma -
7 Times the above Yuga Cycle = 12 Hrs of Brahma
We are in the day time 12 hrs of Brahma. There will be no life during the night time 12 hrs of Brahma - "Pralaya". Veda and all the Atman rests back in Mahavishnu until the day of Brahma arrives. On the dawn all the Atman and the Vedas are planted back onto various planets as per their 'Karma'!
Read more in Hindu scriptures!
Posted by: Paragon, India on 11:37am Sat 15 Sep 07
Brahma - Vishnu - Maheshwar
3 deities of Hinduism.
EOD everything has to follow as by the Principle - The God !!
Brahma - Vishnu - Maheshwar
3 deities of Hinduism.
EOD everything has to follow as by the Principle - The God !!
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