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
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.
