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<a href="http://historyhuntersinternational.org/ind...pic=2080.0;wap2" target="_blank">http://historyhuntersinternational.org/ind...pic=2080.0;wap2</a>
Administration:
Taforalt Cave
82,000 year old jewellery found
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/...ults/barton.asp
By Fran Bardsley
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.
Administration:
Taforalt Cave
82,000 year old jewellery found
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/...ults/barton.asp
QUOTE
A triangle of beads
These beads, and similar ones from Israel and South Africa, come from the same genus or group of species. The similarities provide evidence that human ideas could cross wide areas of Africa in ancient times.
'If you draw a triangle covering the three furthest known locations of Homo sapiens between 75,000-120,000 years ago, that triangle stretches from South Africa to Morocco to Israel,' says Chris.
'Shell beads are now known at all three points of that triangle, with three different stone tool industries. So such behaviour had probably spread right across the early human range by this time, and would have been carried by modern humans as they dispersed from Africa in the last 100,000 years.'
Cultural developments
Fossil and genetic evidence suggests modern humans, or Homo sapiens, originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago . They migrated beyond Africa and the Middle East about 50-70,000 years ago and eventually spread throughout the world.
These beads, and similar ones from Israel and South Africa, come from the same genus or group of species. The similarities provide evidence that human ideas could cross wide areas of Africa in ancient times.
'If you draw a triangle covering the three furthest known locations of Homo sapiens between 75,000-120,000 years ago, that triangle stretches from South Africa to Morocco to Israel,' says Chris.
'Shell beads are now known at all three points of that triangle, with three different stone tool industries. So such behaviour had probably spread right across the early human range by this time, and would have been carried by modern humans as they dispersed from Africa in the last 100,000 years.'
Cultural developments
Fossil and genetic evidence suggests modern humans, or Homo sapiens, originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago . They migrated beyond Africa and the Middle East about 50-70,000 years ago and eventually spread throughout the world.
By Fran Bardsley
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.
QUOTE
<a href="http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/...ults/barton.asp" target="_blank">http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/...ults/barton.asp</a>
Results and future directions
1. We have demonstrated that the Upper Palaeolithic, locally known as the Ibero-maurusian, probably dates no earlier than 17.085ka (YS occupation horizon 2).
However, artefacts in the underlying YS occupation horizons 3 (22.2ka) and 4 (25.76ka) neither fall within the Ibero-maurusian nor do they seem to fit the description of the Middle Palaeolithic Aterian described by earlier excavators.
While it is possible that the types found belong to hitherto unrecognised 'transitional Middle-Upper Palaeolithic industries', we believe it more prudent at the moment to leave any precise attribution until further work has been completed.
These results nevertheless refute the view still held by some archaeologists that the Maghreb was abandoned by humans between 40-20ka.
Results and future directions
1. We have demonstrated that the Upper Palaeolithic, locally known as the Ibero-maurusian, probably dates no earlier than 17.085ka (YS occupation horizon 2).
However, artefacts in the underlying YS occupation horizons 3 (22.2ka) and 4 (25.76ka) neither fall within the Ibero-maurusian nor do they seem to fit the description of the Middle Palaeolithic Aterian described by earlier excavators.
While it is possible that the types found belong to hitherto unrecognised 'transitional Middle-Upper Palaeolithic industries', we believe it more prudent at the moment to leave any precise attribution until further work has been completed.
These results nevertheless refute the view still held by some archaeologists that the Maghreb was abandoned by humans between 40-20ka.
