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Discovery of Ancient Beads

2016/10/19 16:19:38

I tend to believe that after finding food and shelter, the next thing ancient man did was find a bead, stick it on a string, and hang it around his/her neck.

And, thus, the first necklace was created.

But sometimes it is still interesting to read about new discoveries like these beads found to be 100,000 years old.

From a FoxNews report: Ancient beads that may represent the oldest attempt by people at self-decoration have been identified from sites in Algeria and Israel.

The beads, made from shells with holes bored into them, date to around 100,000 years ago, some 25,000 years older than similar beads discovered two years ago in South Africa, researchers report in Friday's issue of the 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 co-author Francesco d'Errico of the National Center for Scientific Research in Talence, France.

In the past some researchers have argued that the ability to use symbolism did not develop until people had migrated to Europe some 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.

Alison Brooks, head of the anthropology department at George Washington University, said the new find reinforces that people developed behaviors gradually.