Researchers report that an ancient Middle Eastern child who was buried in a stone grave 9,000 years before wore a complex necklace. This necklace illustrates how social life was in the early farming communities.
More than 2,500 stone and shell beads strewn across the child’s upper body, along with a double-holed stone pendant positioned behind the neck and a mother-of-pearl ring laying on the chest, The impressive necklace was originally formedArchaeologist Hala alarashi and co-workers report August 2, PLOS ONE. According to them, the perforations in the upper half mother-of pearl ring were used as cords and strings that held seven rows of beads connected to the pendant.
“This imposing necklace was made to be buried with a child who had important social status,” says Alarashi, of the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona. “We don’t know why this particular child was special.”
The necklace was made by artisans using stones and shells imported to the Middle East from various parts. Two amber bead represent the oldest ever discovered.
The intricate necklace had come apart by the time the youngster’s grave was excavated in 2018 at a site in southern Jordan called Ba’ja. There were no cords or strings. So Alarashi and colleagues reconstructed the ornament first by analyzing the distribution of beads on the child’s skeletal remains. Microscopic differences in the intensity of wear in the beads’ openings helped to determine the position of each bead in strung rows. Comparisons of the partially preserved ring to similar objects previously found at Ba’ja let the researchers estimate how many necklace cords it could have held.
Alarashi believes a large crowd of mourners gathered on a mountaintop, in a densely populated village, to bury an 8-year-old child with a necklace. Radiocarbon dating on charred bits of wood places the occupation of this farming community between 7400 B.C. Publications dating back to 6800 B.C. Public Rituals performed at gravesitesAround 12,000 years ago, the Middle East was a place of conflict.SN: 8/30/10).
The reconstructed necklace is now on display at Jordan’s Petra Museum in Wadi Musa.
