Nassarius gibbosulus shells, the kind used by ancient humans to make jewellery.
Credit: Marian Vanhaeren and Francesco d'Errico
WASHINGTON, 23 June 2006 - Perforated shells dating back 100,000 years from Israel and Algeria may be the oldest beads ever known and suggest that human culture developed slowly instead of bursting forth in Europe, a study published yesterday said.
Until recently, researchers believed the first cultural signs emerged 40,000 years ago when modern humans appeared in Europe.
But the study in Science magazine said that the shell beads made for decorative purposes show progress came much earlier in northern Africa and the Middle East.
"Modern humans in Africa developed behaviors that are considered modern quite early in time," said study coauthor Francesco d'Errico on National Center for Scientific Research in Talence, France.
"These people were probably not just biologically modern but also culturally and cognitively modern," d'Errico said.
Jewelry and other forms of personal decoration were one of the most important early expressions of human culture, according to study coauthor Marian Vanhauren of University College London.
The researchers said that, searching through museum collections, they found bead-like shells with holes in them from sites in Skhul, Israel and Oued Djebbana, Algeria. These were similar to shell beads dating back 75,000 years found earlier in South African caves.
These shells are now firmly believed to be decorative beads, the study said.
To be certain, two researchers said they wanted to find beads from more than one site in the same region dating to the same period, to confirm that bead working was underway earlier than previously thought.
"It's very important to establish the chronology of these modern types of behavior, and this paper constitutes we think a significant advancement," d'Errico said.
