A few weeks ago, you might have noticed a news story, or rather several of them, about "prehistoric bling", referring to some Middle Stone Age shell beads that are believed to have been the earliest jewelry. I've been working on a photo essay about ancient shell beads for several years now, because the story isn't really about prehistoric bling at all: it's about how humans became humans.
Nassarius shell beads from Grotte des Pigeons at Taforalt excavated in 2009. Photo by (c) Institute of Archaeology, credit I Cartwright
You see, although the first Homo sapiens skeletal remains discovered so far date to some 160,000 years ago—the modern behaviors that we think of associated with our species didn't occur until much later. We used to believe that the "creative explosion" occurred at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, about 45,000 years ago, when cave paintings and portable art such as Venus figurines and hunting, all that kind of stuff first took place.
What the discovery of really ancient shell beads—in three disparate places between 70,000-130,000 years ago—means is that the development of modern human behaviors took several tens of thousands of years, a realization that has been creeping up on researchers for the past two decades or so.
The Shell Beads and Behavioral Modernity photo essay owes pretty much everything to the generosity of researchers Francesco d'Errico, Marian Vanhaeran, Nick Barton and Lucinda Backwell, for the use of their research and photos.
Comments
I’m sorry but I do not see what you want me to see in this crude picture of shell beads. Where are the wear marks of the cordage attachment? All I see are some shells with holes in them. Natural??? man made??? this is very poor evidence.
You have to click through to look at the photo essay for better images of the shells.
http://archaeology.about.com/od/stoneage/ss/beads.htm
These shell beads can’t be the product of primitive cave men. These are the products of man who have art skill. The illustrations of primitive cave men are all fake. Science (archaelogy) proves this fact every other day. These shell bead are just one of the examples of this fact.
Your preocupation with beads from Africa is extremely racist! At least during early XXIst century. You add salt to the wound by comparing them to the sophisticate Ice Age cave painting or artistically refined Venus figurines found throught the Ice Free Basque-Ukrainian corridor of Europe [or pre-Alpine and pre-Carpathian].
What you are pushing is the fact that our Black ancestors for 150,000 did not make any progress and lived in Beads Culture while within last 20,000 years the White people who evolved in South West and South East Europe progressed from the beads era to the Sputnik era (via Flint-Spark-Fire [FSF]. Incidentally the father of the Soviet Sputnik was an Ukrainian rocket scientist S. Korolov.
While you mention the plethora of Ukrainian paleolithic Venus figurines you should also mention that at Moldova Ukraine a set of four flutes undamaged and at Chernihiv a few more were discovered, about 20,000-18,000 years old. There are no Ice Age caves paintings in Ukraine because she lacks caverns.
You should not stress the lack of progress among of eumelanotic Africans and especially you should not mention the astonishing progress among pheomelanotic Europeans during the last 20,000 years at the time when we finally have Afro-American President. This aboundantly illustrates the latent intellectual potential of the genetically less endowned pheomelanotic humans.
I think your obsession with beads you destine to your bedroom mirror. The beads story demonstrates genetics is unjust by nature (or Nature).
It’s not possible for this to be racist. The ancient people in Africa with the beads are all of our ancestors, of whatever stripe.
Let me say this clearly: Everybody on the planet is descended from the bead makers in Africa. Including the guys who painted the Lascaux Cave and you and me.
I really enjoy being a subscriber to your posts Kris – and this latest one is fascinating. Have bookmarked the photo-essay. Thank you!
Pity about your racist trolls – but hey, they’re everywhere.
“…..obsessed about making Arch.. available to the public”. thanks- your site is just what I needed to keep abreast. Sorry I didn’t find it years ago. cheers Gerry
Dear Kris,
Thanks for your response. As pheomelanotic (White)human geneticists I was aware long before you that my ancestors40,000 BP in Europe were eumelanotic (Black) who moved into Europe every interglacial and moved out )or died out during each Ice Age Era.
But being eumelanotic does not mean that ALL Blacks are stupid nor that being pheomelanotic (being White or Oriental) means that all of them are smart and intelligent.
Moreover Neadnerthals were intensly pheomelanotic as evidence that they were redhairs (more accurately furred) and they did not learn how to start Flint-Spark-Fire nor develop the flint microblades techique and thus they died out when they exhausted the natural resource of the large surface flint nodules (plenty others being locked up in permafrost of Ukrainian-Basque Ice Free UBIF-corridor).
However it is better to keep the laudable preocupation with The Beads on the back burner because The Beads fuel red-neck anti-Afro-American racists. The Beads harken to the fact that for 150,000 years Africans did not made significant technological or artistic advances. The Beads harken to the slave trade with African kings selling their subjects for glass beads until 200 years ago. The Beads harken to the fact that this adornment is still favored by Afro-American young males of whom 30% will serve jail time during their life times.
The tramendous intellectual difference between pheomelanotics and eumelanotics is illustrated in their languages and art.
Australian and African Aborigenes not mixed with European pheomelanotics painted stick figures hands with three six or sometime eight fingers. Why?
Because in their languages (also in Amazonia) they have words for numbers only up to three and after that everything for them is MANY. No concempt of four or five. Listen on internet to the ‘music’ of digeroo and compare it with finesse bueaute and compexity of tunes of Ukrainian and Basque sopilka-flute. It leaves Mozart fquite behind. It is impossible to write music for sopilka (xirula in Basque) because each time the tune is played differently: result of 20,000 years of practice and improvement by the autochtones.
Because of my mid-brain has more of pheomelanin in my Substantia nigra (what a misnomer!)I am not any better from my disadvantaged Aboriginal distant cousins and brothers. The third most famous American genticits Theodosius Dobzhansky (check his ethnicity) before he died in California penned a booklet Genetic Diversity and Human Equality. Thirty years on his death bed like Polish Copernicus to avoid persecution stressed the race diffrences and simultaneously called for RACIAL EQUALITY because only in diversity and minimal hybridization he saw chance of survival of human species in Natural or Man-made Cataclysms.
Thanks for keeping us informed about so important to all humans Archeology
Jan Kamola
Well, I totally disagree with you, Jan. The more we talk about the fact that we are all descended from Africans, the better, as far as I’m concerned.
While I agree that feeding racism is not a good idea, presenting the fact that we are all the same species, with a shared cultural prehistory, is one of the principal keys to fighting this insidious plague that does so much damage on our beleaguered planet.