Skhul shell beads oldest jewellery?

[shenzhou]

I have just seen a nice little segment on channel 4 news (UK) about this story:

"Oldest known jewellery discovered

It can take hundreds of beads to make a single bracelet, and thousands for a haute couture gown. But it has taken only three shell beads to shake up our theories about human evolution.

The jewellery might not be much by today's standards of bling: they are simple seashells punctured to make rudimentary beads. But archaeologists have dated two of them, from the site of Skhul in Israel, as at least 100,000 years old. This makes them the oldest known items of personal adornment, beating the previous record-holder, a set of similar shell beads found in South Africa's Blombos Cave, by almost 25,000 years.
The third bead, found at Oued Djebbana in Algeria, is younger at just over 35,000 years old, but what it lacks in age it makes up for in location. Found more than 160 kilometres from the sea, its presence clearly suggests intentional human transportation.

The two sites were excavated in the 1930s, but their significance has only recently come to light. "This study refutes the hypothesis that humans only became culturally modern when they entered Europe 40,000 years ago and replaced Neanderthals," says Marian Vanhaeren of University College London, UK, who led the research, published today in Science1.

Complex behaviour

The discovery is significant because it shows that our ancestors adopted symbolic behaviour much earlier than previously thought, says Vanhaeren. For decades, archaeologists had assumed that the complex behaviours such as language, burials and art first turned up about 40,000 years ago in Europe. So whereas modern humans may have physically evolved in Africa, their cultural development was thought to have largely occurred in Europe.

The Blombos Cave beads, found in 2004, were the first to shake that belief. And the new discoveries extend the geographic and temporal region in which early symbolic activity took place. Vanhaeren's team argues that a "long-lasting and widespread bead-working tradition" existed throughout Africa and the Middle East long before anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe.

This hypothesis does not contradict the appearance of European material 40,000 years ago, but instead challenges ideas about its role in human evolution, says Vanhaeren's colleague Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London. "What we find in Europe is very spectacular. The painted caves are very special, and we've found nothing like them yet in Africa or Asia," he says. "But we now know that the basic framework for that behaviour was already present around 100,000 years ago."

It is difficult to imagine any use for the pierced shells rather than as personal decoration, says Vanhaeren. But the use of jewellery suggests a complex social system. Beads and pendants may be used in gift-giving, as markers of ethnic, social or personal identity, or even as amulets. "When you put a personal ornament on your body, you are sending a message to other people," she says. "It is a silent language, but very powerful."

It is possible that other forms of symbolic material, such as wooden beads or bark paintings, may have existed before 100,000 years ago and simply not survived, Stringer suggests. "The Blombos find showed us how we can use beads as a window to social complexity. But it is only one window and there are many more to open."

References

1. Vanhaeren M., et al. Science, 312. 1785 - 1788 (2006)."

From Nature news: http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060619/full/060619-10.html (free at the moment will probably go subscription only soon)

See also Eurekalert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/aaft-sfi061506.php

edit
The paper is now up:

Middle Paleolithic Shell Beads in Israel and Algeria
Marian Vanhaereny, Francesco d'Errico, Chris Stringer, Sarah L. James, Jonathan A. Todd, and Henk K. Mienis
Science 23 June 2006: 1785-1788.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5781/1785

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

Thanks for bringing this up. Note that MSNBC also carries this interesting bit of news, this one with a few good pictures of the "beads". It can be read HERE.

Note also that the Science issue that is being referred in these various "news' had yet to be put online as of an hour ago. So said my library connection. I'll try again later today and try to come up some additional info on this interesting find after putting my hands on a copy of the original paper.

Jacques

[lagarvelho]

Jacques and all:

Just to letcha know, as of 3 pm local(Seatttle) time, there is an abstract.   It may or may not be up yet.
Anne G

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

Jacques and all:

Just to letcha know, as of 3 pm local(Seatttle) time, there is an abstract.   It may or may not be up yet.
Anne G

The actual paper has been online for a few hours. I have it. More later.

Jacques

[Marc Washington]

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060622_beads.htm

Oldest known beads reported found

June 22, 2006
Special to World Science

Three shells with holes bored into their centers, excavated in Israel and Algeria, may be the oldest known personal decoration, researchers say in a new paper.
 
 
The two perforated shells from Skhul. The vertical line represents 1 cm (0.4 in). (Courtesy Marian Vanhaeren and Francesco d'Errico)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The discovery may change scientists’ views of how human culture emerged, according to the researchers.

Until recently, scientists generally thought the first signs of modern human culture appeared 40,000 years ago, when anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe. 

But the beads appear to be more than 100,000 years old, the new study found, suggesting modern behavior began earlier and developed more gradually.

In a previous study, researchers described a discovery of 75,000 year-old perforated shells from Blombos cave in South Africa.

In the new work, Marian Vanhaeren at University College London and colleagues searched through museum collections. They found bead-like shells from the archaeological sites of Skhul, in Israel, and Oued Djebbana, in Algeria.

The shells were the same genus, Nassarius, as those from Blombos, and were punctured similarly, they noted.

Dates from Skhul indicate the two shells from that site are more than 100,000 years old, they reported. And based on the style of tools at Oued Djebbana, they added, the shell from that site could be up to 90,000 years old.

The sample is small, the researchers admitted. But they argued that Skhul and Oued Djebbana are so far from the sea that the shells were probably brought there intentionally, probably for beadworking. By studying modern Nassarius shells, they also concluded it’s extremely unlikely that the holes occurred naturally.

The study appears in the June 23 issue of the research journal Science. “Our paper supports the scenario that modern humans in Africa developed behaviors that are considered modern quite early in time, so that in fact these people were probably not just biologically modern but also culturally and cognitively modern, at least to some degree,” said study coauthor Francesco d’Errico of the National Center for Scientific Research in Talence, France.

Personal ornaments, along with art, are generally seen as evidence of an aptitude for symbolic thinking, the researchers noted.

“Symbolically mediated behaviour,” Vanhaeren said, is “one of the few unchallenged and universally accepted markers of modernity. A key characteristic of all symbols is that their meaning is assigned by arbitrary, socially constructed conventions and it permits the storage and display of information.”

The shells, N. gibbosulus, are from scavenging marine snails that live in shallow waters and are now only found in the central-eastern Mediterranean, according to the team.

[trehinp]

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060622_beads.htm

Oldest known beads reported found

June 22, 2006
Special to World Science
... ...
The discovery may change scientists’ views of how human culture emerged, according to the researchers.

Until recently, scientists generally thought the first signs of modern human culture appeared 40,000 years ago, when anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe. 

But the beads appear to be more than 100,000 years old, the new study found, suggesting modern behavior began earlier and developed more gradually.

I am thrilled by the publication of this research.

It is consistent with and adds one more point to the ideas I was developping in a post dated February 08, 2004, "Radical or progressive evolution" in the "Parietal & Mobiliary Art." discussion here .

The ideas developped in this post and in a revised version, which I have developped and completed on my website , are proposing that one should distinguish the "main stream" culture such as aesthetic shapes of some stone tools, beads collections, regular marks on various supports, and later on "stick men" figurative art on one side, from the "exceptional production" such as Chauvet, Cosquer, through to Altamira, Lascaux, Rouffignac and Niaux (just to quote a few).

While the first was most likely subject to a gradual evolution, the second was probably the result of exceptional talents, exactly like later on throughout art history there were only a few extraordinary talents.

The article "Oldest known beads reported found" of course doesn't speak about the second group of art productions, but confirms the idea that art manifestations have evolved since a much longer time than the 40K years. That idea has been supported by many renounned prehistoric art specialists (Lorblanchet 1999, Bahn 1998, D'Errico 2003, etc.) The analysis in this article also refutes the ideas that there must have been a cognitive revolution around that time (Mithen 1999, Klein & Edgar 2002, Tattersall 2002)
 
Looking forward to reading the original paper...

Paul TREHIN

[Robert Henvell]

There was a considerable mount of ochre in one of the Q cave and a youth was buried clutching antler horns,which adds credence to early cognizance.

[lagarvelho]

All:

I don't have a subscription so I don't have access to the full article.  Maybe someone with access or a subscription would be kind enough to upload the whole article, if that is possible?
Anne G

[Mikey Brass]

Chris Henshilwood gave a good overview on the state of research into the
origins of modern human behaviour from southern Africa, at the recently
completed SAfA (Society of Africanist Archaeologists) conference.

Contra Balter, the first published report of shell beads from Blombos
was in Science 2002, not 2004.

This report is but the first of many articles that will be published on
MSA behavioural patterns over the coming year. Henshilwood and others
are extensively re-examining the collection materials from a number of
excavations, as evidence such as detailed in this particular article has
been overlooked or unrecognised for a number of years.

Henshilwood and D'Errico have an article in press (JHE) on a bone point
they have found in the museum collection material of the MSA level at
Peers Cave (Western Cape, South Africa).

Diepkloof (South Africa) is being re-excavated. Inscribed ostrich
eggshell has been found dating to the late Howiesonspoort. In addition,
bifacial points have been found similar to Stillbay here and other
sites. Stillbay is no longer confined to the relatively small area of
Stillbay and Blombos.

As for the other forthcoming publications, Henshilwood was not at
liberty to discuss with any conference delegate.

Henshilwood's view is that there were bursts of modernity behaviour at
around the same time but not at the same time; i.e. a mosaic pattern and
process.

[trehinp]

This report is but the first of many articles that will be published on
MSA behavioural patterns over the coming year. Henshilwood and others
are extensively re-examining the collection materials from a number of
excavations, as evidence such as detailed in this particular article has
been overlooked or unrecognised for a number of years.

Hi Mikey,

I think that indeed more and more evidence of early symbolic human behaviour will be discovered in the future.

However, I assume that the earlier we get in time, the more difficult it will be to find such evidence. It is also likely that the symbolic manifestations will be less complex so more difficult to identify as such.

My impression from the literature on the subject is that it is likely that only homo sapiens had full blown symbolic capabilities. I also think, based on the same litterature that Nehandertal must have had some simpler forms of symbolic behaviour.

Henshilwood's view is that there were bursts of modernity behaviour at
around the same time but not at the same time; i.e. a mosaic pattern and
process.

I completely agree with that statement. I will make another guess, this time concerning the exceptional drawings and painting which are said to have started around 35K PB (Chauvet being among the oldest known with a 32 K BP date).

I think that it is possible that some new exceptional drawings or painting could be found somewhere on the path of AMM migration from Africa. I have illustrated that possibility on the second graphical representation or art evolution in my text adressing specifically that subject : Click here for more

Some times between 100 K BP and 40K BP there might have been at least one individual (but over the period a few more)  with special gifts for 3D drawing, this regardless of the general cultural advancement of the people. However my hypothesis is that only AMM would have had such individuals among them.

So I'm hopping that such paintings or engraving of naturalistic animals will be found somewhere in Africa or along the migration path through the Middle East.

Thanks for the reference to Chris Henshilwood work.

Paul Trehin