When was the jewelry born? Now the answer is there: about 150,000 years ago. At least, the oldest jewel discovered by archaeologists dates back to this period. In short, the women (or men) of our ancestors had an aspect to look after to make a good impression in the cave. Basically, not much has changed. The first jewel, of course, is very simple: it is a necklace made up of 33 shells, discovered in the Essaouira cave in Bizmoune, near the Atlantic coast of Morocco between 2014 and 2018. But only now are the details of the discovery known, after that the necklace has undergone a series of rigorous tests.
The shells, which also have markings of an applied color, are sea snail shells and form the beads with holes in the center and wear marks indicating their arrangement on ropes or clothing. Archaeologists associate this primitive jewel with the Aterian culture of the Stone Age. According to American archaeologist Steven L. Kuhn, shell pearls are the first evidence of the use of jewelry to communicate something about one’s identity. This aspect is also not very different from the one in use today. Until the discovery of the African necklace it was thought that the oldest piece of jewelry was the 23,000-year-old bead exhibited in Japan.
