Excavations at Blombos Cave, South Africa, by SapienCE researchers revealed information about how and when we may have started developing modern human identities.Credit: UiB, SapienCE
Shells that may have been used as personal ornaments 100,000 years ago, shed light on the development of modern human identities, according to a study in the Journal of Human Evolution.
Map of Southern Africa with the location of Blombos Cave. Map modified after Jacobs, Z., Jones, B. G., Cawthra, H. C., Henshilwood, C. S., & Roberts, R. G. (2020).
Shells from Blombos Cave, South Africa, showing natural holes possibly to be used as personal ornaments by early modern humans living 100 000 years ago.Credit: UiB, SapienCE
The shells were all found in the Blombos Cave, on South Africa’s coastline, and analysed by researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and University of Bergen, Norway.
“The discovery of eye-catching unmodified shells with natural holes from 100,000 to 73,000 years ago confirms previous scant evidence that marine shells were collected, taken to the site and, in some cases, perhaps worn as personal ornaments,” says Karen Van Niekerk, a co-author.
Francesco d'Errico, from the University Of Bergen, says the study uses archaeological and historical evidence to propose a trend that captures the evolution of the human practices to change the appearance of the physical body.
“In this process, the use of red, iron rich, mineral pigments, marks the first step of the practices to culturalise our body. “In Africa shell beads appeared between 140,000 and 75,000 years ago. They are followed by circular beads made of ostrich egg shells after 55,000 years ago and multiple types of beads after 44,000 years ago,” d'Errico adds.
