When do you think humans started wearing jewelry? Five hundred years ago? Five thousand? Five million? A few years ago, a group of researchers led by Christopher Henshilwood of the State University of New York at Stony Brook discovered what it believes is the earliest jewelry in the South African Blombus Cave. Surprisingly, it wasnt diamonds, but shell beads! The shells were dated to be about 75,000 years old, pushing back the time attributed to humans for the first abstract (or symbolic) thought by 30,000 years. The production of art or jewelry is generally accepted among archaeologists as an indicator of symbolic thinking.
Interestingly, at about the same time, another group of researchers led by John Bower of University of California at Davis, found at Loiyangalani, a dig site in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, two ostrich eggshell beads that are tentatively dated to about 70,000 years. Bower believes the bead findings are very significant because “beads are tangible evidence of a concept of self. You’re not going to decorate yourself if you have no concept of self.” These two finds really make you wonder about How It All Began in the...
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