Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: evidence for symbolic behaviour in the Middle Stone Age

d’Errico, Francesco; Henshilwood, Christopher S.; Vanhaeren, Marian; Niekerk, Karen L. van

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.09.002

Cited by 571 publications

(226 citation statements)

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“…Symbolic material culture, representing the ability to share and transmit coded information within and across groups, is an indication of modern cognition (1,2,5,13,(16)(17)(18). This statement is particularly true when the physical body is used as a means of display.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Five sites-Qafzeh and Skhul in Israel, Oued Djebbana in Algeria, Taforalt in Morocco, and Blombos Cave in South Africa-have yielded evidence of an ancient use of personal ornaments. Perforated shells from Qafzeh consist of Glycymeris insubrica bivalves (6), those from the following three aforementioned sites consist of Nassarius gibbosulus (Ng) (7,8) and those from Blombos are Nassarius kraussianus, common in South African estuaries (5). Two other sites, Sibudu Cave and Border Cave, South Africa (9), have yielded less compelling evidence for early bead use.…”

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Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa

d’Errico

Vanhaeren

Barton

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Recent investigations into the origins of symbolism indicate that personal ornaments in the form of perforated marine shell beads were used in the Near East, North Africa, and SubSaharan Africa at least 35 ka earlier than any personal ornaments in Europe. Together with instances of pigment use, engravings, and formal bone tools, personal ornaments are used to support an early emergence of behavioral modernity in Africa, associated with the origin of our species and significantly predating the timing for its dispersal out of Africa. Criticisms have been leveled at the low numbers of recovered shells, the lack of secure dating evidence, and the fact that documented examples were not deliberately shaped. In this paper, we report on 25 additional shell beads from four Moroccan Middle Paleolithic sites. We review their stratigraphic and chronological contexts and address the issue of these shells having been deliberately modified and used. We detail the results of comparative analyses of modern, fossil, and archaeological assemblages and microscopic examinations of the Moroccan material. We conclude that Nassarius shells were consistently used for personal ornamentation in this region at the end of the last interglacial. Absence of ornaments at Middle Paleolithic sites postdating Marine Isotope Stage 5 raises the question of the possible role of climatic changes in the disappearance of this hallmark of symbolic behavior before its reinvention 40 ka ago. Our results suggest that further inquiry is necessary into the mechanisms of cultural transmission within early Homo sapiens populations.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa

d’Errico

Vanhaeren

Barton

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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300

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“…The remainder have irregular outlines with chipping of the inner layer, indicating the agent responsible for the perforation punched the shells from the outer dorsal side. Holes with irregular edges may be obtained by punching the dorsal side with a lithic point (2,11). Smoothed hole edges have been replicated by wearing strung modern shells (39).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…anatomically modern humans ͉ Nassarius shells ͉ modern behavior ͉ Middle Palaeolithic ͉ optically stimulated luminescence A lthough major interest in human evolutionary studies surrounds the appearance and dispersal of anatomically modern humans, an equally far-reaching but more contentious issue concerns the origins of culturally modern behavior (1,2). Despite growing evidence that humans of anatomically modern form originated in Africa Ͼ150,000 years ago (3)(4)(5), there still is considerable controversy over precisely when and how humans attained physical and cultural modernity (6) and how such concepts can be diagnosed (3,(7)(8)(9).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Despite growing evidence that humans of anatomically modern form originated in Africa Ͼ150,000 years ago (3)(4)(5), there still is considerable controversy over precisely when and how humans attained physical and cultural modernity (6) and how such concepts can be diagnosed (3,(7)(8)(9). Regardless of whether behavioral changes were abrupt or accumulated gradually (5, 6), a common proxy for this process is the occurrence of personal ornaments, considered by many authors as tangible signs of symbolic material cultures (1)(2)(7)(8)(9)(10). Establishing when and where such items first appeared in the archaeological record is therefore of great interest.…”

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82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior

Bouzouggar

Barton

Vanhaeren

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The first appearance of explicitly symbolic objects in the archaeological record marks a fundamental stage in the emergence of modern social behavior in Homo. Ornaments such as shell beads represent some of the earliest objects of this kind. We report on examples of perforated Nassarius gibbosulus shell beads from Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt, Morocco), North Africa. These marine shells come from archaeological levels dated by luminescence and uranium-series techniques to Ϸ82,000 years ago. They confirm evidence of similar ornaments from other less well dated sites in North Africa and adjacent areas of southwest Asia. The shells are of the same genus as shell beads from slightly younger levels at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Wear patterns on the shells imply that some of them were suspended, and, as at Blombos, they were covered in red ochre. These findings imply an early distribution of bead-making in Africa and southwest Asia at least 40 millennia before the appearance of similar cultural manifestations in Europe.anatomically modern humans ͉ Nassarius shells ͉ modern behavior ͉ Middle Palaeolithic ͉ optically stimulated luminescence

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Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: evidence for symbolic behaviour in the Middle Stone Age

Cited by 571 publications

References 46 publications

Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa

Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa

82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior

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