How it began
Excavations at Bizmoune Cave in western Morocco documented perforated marine shells in Middle Stone Age, Aterian layers. Many of the beads come from deposits dated to at least 142,000 years ago, an age fixed by a mineral formation in the same layer near the cave mouth. The finds were published in Science Advances in 2021 by a team co-directed by Abdeljalil Bouzouggar of the National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage in Rabat, Steven Kuhn of the University of Arizona and Philippe Fernandez of Aix-Marseille University.
How it works
Each bead is a sea snail shell roughly half an inch long. Holes in the center of the shells, polish and other marks of wear show that they were hung on strings or from clothing. Some carry traces of red ochre. The researchers recovered 33 such beads from the cave.
What changed first
The researchers describe beads and other personal ornaments as the most common and earliest material indicators of symbolic behavior. In their reading, the beads were a lasting, visible way to tell other people something about the wearer, including people beyond immediate friends and family.
What lasted
Dated between 142,000 and 150,000 years ago, the Bizmoune beads pushed back the known age of shell ornaments and suggested that this behavior began much earlier than previously thought. Anthropologists use them as clues to how human cognition, communication and social interaction evolved, since beads are in effect a preserved form of basic nonverbal communication.
