Oldest jewellery

The oldest known example of decorative jewellery are a group of 33 perforated shell beads, which were created and worn at least 142,000 years ago during the Early Middle Stone Age. The shells were excavated between 2014 and 2018 from the Bizmoune Cave near Essaouira in Morocco.

The shells are of the mollusk Tritia gibbosula, a small sea snail with a richly-coloured pearlescent shell. During this period that the cave was inhabited, the coastline was located some 50 km distant, making it unlikely that these shells ended up on the site by chance. They were dated using Uranium-series dating, which measures the proportions of certain radioactive isotopes in surrounding strata to establish the age of the material.

Researchers believe the shell beads were strung onto cord and worn either as jewellery or clothing adornment. Prior to the discovery of the shells, the earliest evidence of humans expressing symbolic behaviour— such as using jewellery to signify community membership or family identity—dated to 10,000 to 20,000 years earlier. The same type of shell beads were found at numerous other sites in the region which suggests that the making and wearing of these shell beads was a common practice. There are various theories about the intended meaning of the beads including being given as a gift to establish relationships and signalling clan membership.