Sehasseh, E.M. orcid.org/0000-0003-4458-0054, Fernandez, P. orcid.org/0000-0001-7414-008X, Kuhn, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-0288-030X et al. (23 more authors) (2021) Early middle Stone Age personal ornaments from Bizmoune Cave, Essaouira, Morocco. Science Advances, 7 (39). eabi8620. ISSN 2375-2548
Abstract
Ornaments such as beads are among the earliest signs of symbolic behavior among human ancestors. Their appearance signals important developments in both cognition and social relations. This paper describes and presents contextual information for 33 shell beads from Bizmoune Cave (southwest Morocco). Many of the beads come as deposits dating to ≥142 thousand years, making them the oldest shell beads yet recovered. They extend the dates for the first appearance of this behavior into the late Middle Pleistocene. The ages and ubiquity of beads in Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites in North Africa provide further evidence of the potential importance of these artifacts as signals of identity. The early and continued use of Tritia gibbosula and other material culture traits also suggest a remarkable degree of cultural continuity among early MSA Homo sapiens groups across North Africa.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Earth Sciences; History, Heritage and Archaeology; Archaeology; Historical Studies; Geology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Geography (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Dec 2023 16:16 |
Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2023 16:16 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/sciadv.abi8620 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:206409 |