It’s like Tiffany’s for the Stone Age. Inside a glass case, a dozen examples of Nassarius kraussianus are arranged in a circle, a necklace without a string. These tiny white shells, all pierced near the lip, are prehistoric beads, dated at around 77,000 years old.
“Before the Blombos beads were found, it was thought that the earliest beads date to about 40,000 years ago, and that they are only found in Europe,” says Dr Sarah Wurz, curator of pre-colonial archaeology in the Social History Collections Department of Iziko Museums of Cape Town.
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The shell beads tell us that prehistoric society was probably just like we are. Because we are the only group of primates that wear ornaments
Beads: Ritual and Ornamentation is a small exhibition containing big ideas, including ammunition in the debate on when and where modern human behaviour began. The South African Museum's exhibit looks at beads and their uses through the ages in Africa. The oldest beads on show are 77,000-year-old Nassarius kraussianus, tick shells once inhabited by tiny mollusks and fashioned into Stone Age bling by hunter-gatherers armed with bone points. Also on display are ancient ostrich eggshell necklaces, tortoise shells – aka San cosmetic containers – decorated with beads and a colourful 20th-century qhina (necklet) worn by a Xhosa diviner. Dr Sarah Wurz is the curator.
It’s like Tiffany’s for the Stone Age. Inside a glass case, a dozen examples of Nassarius kraussianus are arranged in a circle, a necklace without a string. These tiny white shells, all pierced near the lip, are prehistoric beads, dated at around 77,000 years old.
