The world's oldest jewelry necklace is up to 150,000 years old

The 150,000-year-old shell necklace is said to be the oldest piece of jewelry in the world.

Archaeologists discovered the oldest jewelry known to man inside the Bizmoune cave, about 10 km from the coastal city of Essaouira, in southwestern Morocco.

These shells are between 142,000 and 150,000 years old.

Using an excavator, the team discovered 33 seashell seeds that are between 142,000 and 150,000 years old.

They worked hard to find many shell beads between 2014 and 2018. At the same time, the team conducted extensive scientific analysis to ensure accurate calculation. dating.

El Mehdi Sehasseh, of the National Institute of Heritage and Archaeological Sciences in Rabat, who led the study, said his team used uranium dating to help answer questions about the origin and lifetime of the particles.

According to experts, this type of bead ring is most closely related to the Aterian culture, the Middle Stone Age in North Africa. These ancient settlers were the first to use what we now call jewelry.

This type of bead ring is most closely associated with the Aterian culture.

Each bead is about 1 cm in size and has a round hole.

Steven L. Kuhn, a professor at the University of Arizona's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and leading the group of paleontologists, said jewelry was used not only to enhance beauty, but also to bring beauty. certain meaning.

According to Steven L. Kuhn, seashells are the earliest evidence of a universal form of human nonverbal communication.

Steven L. Kuhn said: "Bracelets are a part of the way the wearer expresses their identity, besides the clothes they wear. This is proof that bracelets have been around for hundreds of thousands of years and that humans have been around. has long been interested in communicating with larger groups of people, not just their close friends and family."

The beads in the chain are made from the shells of two different species of sea snail, about 1 cm long. There is a small hole in the middle for the string to pass through or attach to the garment. They can be worn as earrings or necklaces. Many of the beads have smooth, polished edges that show a respect for the work of a skilled craftsman.

According to Steven L. Kuhn, the beads have helped other nomads and indigenous people in the region to express their ethnicity, taking advantage of limited resources in a cold and dry climate.