Personal Ornaments Research Articles

Ice Age Apparel—Changing Prey Patterns Towards the Last Glacial Maximum and the Role of Reindeer Fur for Clothing at Kammern-Grubgraben

The site of Kammern-Grubgraben in Lower Austria preserved one of the largest assemblages of stone constructions, lithic and organic artefacts, personal ornaments, and faunal remains of the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 24–20 ka cal BP) in Europe. Conspicuously, the faunal remains attest to an occupation only during winter and are strongly dominated by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), indicating a rather selective and narrow hunting focus despite the curated, long-term character of the site. This narrow focus contrasts with findings from older sites in the region, such as the Gravettian sites Krems-Hundssteig, Krems-Wachtberg, and Langenlois A, dated to between 33 and 29 ka cal BP, which show a main focus on mammoth. In this paper, we present new results on the age and sex distribution of reindeer at Kammern-Grubgraben. We argue that winter-hunting of reindeer, in addition to its role in providing energy-rich nutrition and raw material for organic tools, is also indicative of a focus on obtaining high-quality raw material for clothing. The fur of reindeer in winter is particularly valuable and convenient for the production of clothing for cold environments. Together with the recovered large number of eyed needles, a tool for tight and regular seams, our findings suggest that the production of clothing and other goods made of fur and skin was an important activity at Kammern-Grubgraben.

Находки перфорированных и окрашенных раковин рода Corbicula на стоянке верхнего палеолита Рахат (Северный Тянь-Шань, Казахстан)

The article examines a collection of perforated shells of freshwater bivalve mollusks Corbicula from cultural layers 2 and 3 of the Upper Palaeolithic site of Rakhat. The Rakhat site was discovered in 2006, and excavations have been in progress since 2018. The site is located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau (Northern Tien Shan, Kazakhstan). The site contains 16 cultural layers dating back to ~28,000—19,000 uncal BP (~31000—23000 cal BP). Layers 2 and 3 belong to the upper part of the cultural sequence and have been radiocarbon dated to 19385 ± 40 uncal BP and 19520 ± 45 14C uncal BP (~ 23700—23300 cal BP). These layers, as well as the entire group of cultural layers 1—5, yielded an innovative lithic industry characterized by the presence of scalene triangles. The shells in question belong to the species Corbicula tibetensis Prashad, 1929. Currently, the Corbicula mollusks do not live in the rivers and lakes of the studied area. The article reconstructs the methods used to perforate shells and argues in favor of artificial origin of the red pigmentation on their surfaces. The perforated shells from Rakhat are the first finds of the Upper Palaeolithic personal ornaments in Kazakhstan.

Personal ornament in transition. Final Paleolithic – Mesolithic data from the Iberian Mediterranean Region (16.5 – 7 ky cal. BP)

The present study aims at a better understanding of personal ornaments during the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic transitions. The approach consists of a combination of the shell beads and pendants from Santa Maira (Alacant) and the information from the Mediterranean façade of the Iberian Peninsula, including the Ebro valley, allowing a systematic evaluation of species richness from a spatio-temporal perspective. An assessment of access to the source and its impact on diversity was also carried out. The results show a continuity between the Late Paleolithic and the Epipaleolithic, as well as a period of cultural break with the Mesolithic. Similar patterns have been documented during the same periods from lithic production studies and may indicate a change in social interactions and/or cultural boundaries.

Sentient beings? Rethinking the meaning of stone in mesolithic burials and beyond

ABSTRACT Considerable attention has been given to the skeletal remains and personal ornaments from Mesolithic funerary contexts. Relatively less analytical attention, however, has been given to lithic objects frequently found in the same graves. As a result, understandings of grave goods and the broader ontological frameworks surrounding Mesolithic mortuary practices can be argued to be incomplete. A partial picture is perhaps why we have struggled to move beyond monolithic accounts of grave goods as status items. In this paper, I draw on empirical evidence for lithics playing diverse roles in funerary rites and rituals. Connections between stone objects and human bodies are drawn from funerary and other contexts to argue that, rather than being simply inanimate and utilitarian, some stone tools were perceived as living entities. Taking this new ontological perspective enables a radical rethink of the meaning of lithic artefacts in Mesolithic burials and beyond.

Personal Ornaments and Burial Rites in Prehistory

Archaeological burial contexts are among particularly attractive topics for both experts – archaeologists, and wider audiences. The reasons behind this are partially the rich, attractive portable finds that are usually associated with these contexts, but also the interpretative potential, i.e., insight into rituals and symbolic values of people in the past. Archaeological finds from burial contexts are very diverse in their nature and function, and may include parts of burial constructions, remains of rituals, objects placed along the deceased and objects placed on the deceased. The interpretation of burial contexts and associated finds are tightly connected and interlinked. These finds were often regarded as a result of a single, short-lived event and were considered as particularly important for the questions of relative and absolute chronology; the contents of burial finds were used as a basis for hypotheses regarding social relations, and, overall, burial finds were used for interpreting the identity of the deceased, reconstructing rituals, etc. Personal ornaments are particularly common in burial contexts, and, at the same time, the richest finds of personal ornaments mainly originate from burial contexts. When it comes to personal ornaments, it is usually assumed that they were owned by the deceased, and they are interpreted through the prism of status, prestige, and/or identity. However, personal ornaments might have had a much wider symbolic meaning. In this paper, we will look at the possibilities in terms of the meanings of personal ornaments from prehistoric contexts – beside markings of identity and status of the deceased, they might also have represented a gift to the deceased, gift to divinities, they might have had an apotropaic and a prophylactic function, for both the deceased and the participants in the burial ritual, and they might also have had an emotional meaning.

Pigments from the cultural layer and the male burial of Sungir: preliminary results

Mineral pigments are one of the most common categories of finds at the sites of the Upper Paleolithic. The authors’ approach to the study of pigments is based on a detailed study of all available samples. The results of the archaeological study are complemented by the results of natural science analyses and expand the understanding of the utilitarian and symbolic use of ochre on the sites of the Upper Paleolithic. Statistical processing of the results makes it possible to compare pigments from different areas of sites. The article presents the results of studying 36 samples of pigments from the cultural layer of Sungir, as well as personal ornaments. The presence of a clay component in a thick mass prepared and used for staining a funeral costume is demonstrated. The main features of the use of pigments characteristic to the Sungir settlements include the use for household purposes of both hard and soft types of ochre, up to suspensions of varying degrees of density. The domestic use of pigments finds wide analogies on the Early and Middle Upper Paleolithic European sites, including the use of ochre as a part of the mixture originating from the filling of hearth. However, so far no materials have been identified on Sungir for the reconstruction of the entire сhaîne opératoire for the preparation of colorful substances. The symbolic use of pigments in graphic activities and practices of coloring symbolic objects on Sungir has fully similar, but not identical features with the materials of the Pavlovian sites. This is especially evident in the field of burial rite organization (staining the bottom of the grave), the use of plastic mass for thick staining of clo­thing, headdress, and the application of some personal ornaments on it, possibly partially interconnected, in the preparation of mortuary clothing. The use of suspensions of varying degrees of density on Sungir materials is shown for the first time. The methods of placing ornaments on the head associated with the burial tradition, which have direct analogies in the Moravian Pavlovian materials, have also not been discussed before.

Were Neanderthals the First Collectors? First Evidence Recovered in Level 4 of the Prado Vargas Cave, Cornejo, Burgos and Spain

Collecting is a form of leisure, and even a passion, consisting of collecting, preserving and displaying objects. When we look for its origin in the literature, we are taken back to “the appearance of writing and the fixing of knowledge”, specifically with the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (7th century BC, Mesopotamia), and his fondness for collecting books, which in his case were in the form of clay tablets. This is not, however, a true reflection, for we have evidence of much earlier collectors. The curiosity and interest in keeping stones or fossils of different colors and shapes, as manuports, is as old as we are. For decades we have had evidence of objects of no utilitarian value in Neanderthal homes. Several European sites have shown that these Neanderthal groups treasured objects that attracted their attention. On some occasions, these objects may have been modified to make a personal ornament and may even have been integrated into subsistence activities such as grinders or hammers. Normally, one or two such specimens are found but, to date, no Neanderthal cave or camp has yielded as many as the N4 level of Prado Vargas Cave. In the N4 Mousterian level of Prado Vargas, 15 specimens of Upper Cretaceous marine fossils belonging to the Gryphaeidae, Pectinidae, Cardiidae, Pholadomyidae, Pleurotomariidae, Tylostomatidae and Diplopodiidae families were found in the context of clay and autochthonous cave sediments. During MIS 3, a group of Neanderthals transported at least fifteen marine fossils, which were collected from various Cretaceous units located in the surrounding area, to the Prado Vargas cave. The fossils, with one exception, show no evidence of having been used as tools; thus, their presence in the cave could be attributed to collecting activities. These activities could have been motivated by numerous tangible and intangible causes, which suggest that collecting activities and the associated abstract thinking were present in Neanderthals before the arrival of modern humans.

Late Pleistocene scaphopod beads from Boodie Cave and deep time traditions of personal ornamentation in northwest Australia

Tubular segments of Scaphopoda (tusk shell) were traditionally used by Aboriginal peoples in the manufacture of ornate bead necklaces across northwest Australia. Twenty-seven scaphopod shell beads were recovered from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island dating to between 13,500 and 10,600 cal BP. We compare the Boodie Cave bead assemblage to historical necklace collections as well as experimental studies on scaphopod blanks to characterise bead manufacture, breakage, use-wear, and placement patterns. Results demonstrate that the Boodie Cave beads are larger than other northwest Australian collections; have been manufactured by an anvil-rested percussion technique; have signs of use-wear in the form of polish and rounding but are less curated than specimens from the inland Kimberley. The use-wear study identified that the Boodie Cave beads were strung in a series in a pattern not observed in historical scaphopod necklaces from northern Australia. This patterning may represent a regional variation in display and technological organisation and was likely part of wider ornamental practices documented in historical sources. In all, the Boodie Cave beads provide early and additional evidence for the trade, wearing, and loss of scaphopod beads by mobile hunter-gathers on a dynamic coastline.

Stone axes throw new light on Baltic stone age mortuary rites

Despite their ubiquity, Mesolithic lithic tools given as funerary offerings have rarely been studied in detail. Whereas personal ornaments (e.g. beads, pendants) are commonly interpreted as markers of social identity and status, archaeologists have struggled to understand the stone tools, commonly regarded as “utilitarian” items. As a result, this class of grave goods has not received the same level of attention, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of Mesolithic mortuary behaviours. Our research challenges long-lasting perceptions of lithic tools as strictly utilitarian objects and draws on studies of one of the most substantial stone axe funerary collections from one of the largest Stone Age cemeteries in Europe–Zvejnieki, Latvia. Evidence suggests the selection of unused axes as grave offerings, while unusual wear traces on an axe found in a female grave (no 57) raises questions about its use in the burial rites. Using a multi-proxy approach, we compare life histories of axes placed in burials to those recovered from contemporary, nearby settlement contexts. Finally, a strong correlation between axes and women and children at Zvejnieki challenges gendered stereotypes of stone tools, historically regarded as possessions of the adult male members of Stone Age societies.

Marble for beads during the Copper Age in Tuscany (Italy): products and techniques

Marble for beads during the Copper Age in Tuscany (Italy): products and techniques

Ostrich eggshell beads from Little Muck Shelter, southern Africa: First impressions and regional perspectives

Hunting and gathering communities in southern Africa produced ostrich eggshell (OES) beads for personal ornamentation, trade and exchange, and various forms of symbolism. OES beads convey information related to not only technological processes, but also social histories, making them useful tools for investigating these processes in the archaeological record. In the middle Limpopo Valley, hunter-gatherers produced beads from periods that predated the arrival of farmer societies, before ca. AD 150, until the decline of the Mapungubwe capital, AD 1300. Their analysis may therefore lead to insights into local economies, craft activities, trade and exchange, and social roles. However, no study in the middle Limpopo Valley has sufficiently investigated these beads and their status within forager society. In this paper we study the manufacture of OES beads from one of the excavated forager-occupied shelters in the valley, Little Muck. This study is the first of its kind from a hunter-gatherer context in the region. It shows that Little Muck’s beads were standardised but produced in varying frequencies across temporal periods, and made following different production strategies. Use-wear analysis hints that some of the beads were pigmented and possibly altered using heat treatment. As an initial foray into a forager bead assemblage of the region, this study demonstrates the value such an approach may yield, and it aids in guiding future attempts. It also compares Little Muck’s bead assemblage with those from other sites across a much wider region where such studies have taken place. The findings demonstrate similar patterns to other parts of southern and eastern Africa, but also illustrate local shifts in bead production that follow changes in local socio-political dynamics.

Paleolithic eyed needles and the evolution of dress.

Eyed needles are among the most iconic of Paleolithic artifacts, traditionally seen as rare indicators of prehistoric clothing, particularly tailoring. However, recent finds across Africa and Eurasia show that other technologies like bone awls also facilitated the creation of fitted garments. Nonetheless, the advent of delicate eyed needles suggests a demand for more refined, efficient sewing. This refinement may signify two major developments: the emergence of underwear in layered garment assemblages, and/or a transition in adornment from body modification to decorating clothes, as humans covered themselves more completely for thermal protection. Archaeological evidence for underwear is limited, but the Upper Paleolithic saw an increase in personal ornaments, some sewn onto clothing. Eyed needles may mark a pivotal shift as clothes acquired the social functions of dress, decoupling clothing from climate and ensuring its enduring presence.

Middle through late Holocene long-distance transport of exotic shell personal adornments in Central West Patagonia (southern South America). The archaeomalacological assemblage of Baño Nuevo 1.

The exchange of information and social interactions on broad spatial scales between human groups in the past can be studied through the provenance of key indicators of distant origin recorded at archaeological sites. The remains of shells of mollusk species, especially when crafted as elements of personal ornaments, express aspects of the behaviors and valuations for the populations that selected, transformed, and exchanged such items. In the southern cone of South America, past hunter-gatherer groups traveled long distances and interacted with communities distributed throughout the territory to acquire goods for technological use, visual display or considered highly valued materials. When recorded at distant locations, these goods of extra local origin are very informative regarding the differences between commonly used home ranges and the occasional access to remote spaces. We present the results of the analysis of the archaeomalacological assemblage of the Baño Nuevo 1 site, a cave with exceptional preservation conditions in Central West Patagonia. This site has yielded a diverse group of artifacts made of shells with origins from multiple distances, as well as evidence of the use of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species. Its deposits, which extend over the last 11,000 years, reveal an antiquity of at least the middle Holocene for the acquisition, manufacture, use and transport of goods as personal ornaments from shells in the macroregion.

Assigning a social status from face adornments: an fMRI study.

For at least 150,000 years, the human body has been culturally modified by the wearing of personal ornaments and probably by painting with red pigment. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the brain networks involved in attributing social status from face decorations. Results showed the fusiform gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, and salience network were involved in social encoding, categorization, and evaluation. The hippocampus and parahippocampus were activated due to the memory and associative skills required for the task, while the inferior frontal gyrus likely interpreted face ornaments as symbols. Resting-state functional connectivity analysis clarified the interaction between these regions. The study highlights the importance of these neural interactions in the symbolic interpretation of social markers on the human face, which were likely active in early Homo species and intensified with Homo sapiens populations as more complex technologies were developed to culturalize the human face.

Bodily boundaries transgressed: corporal alteration through ornamentation in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic at Boncuklu Tarla, Türkiye

Lack of contextual evidence for the use of small personal ornaments means that much of our understanding of ornamentation traditions within archaeological cultures is reconstructed from ethnographic comparisons. New in situ finds from the areas around the ears and mouth in burials at Boncuklu Tarla, a Neolithic settlement in Türkiye, add a novel dimension to the interpretation of stone ‘tokens’ or ‘plugs’. This article presents a new typology for these artefacts and argues for their use as ear ornaments or labrets in a practice involving significant and lasting corporal alteration.

Culturing the body in the context of the neolithisation of the southern Levant

Culturing the body in the context of the neolithisation of the southern Levant

Gold Artifacts from the Early Scythian Princely Tomb Arzhan 2, Tuva—Aesthetics, Function, and Technology

This article explores the extraordinarily rich gold finds from the Early Scythian princely tomb Arzhan 2 in the Republic of Tuva, southern Siberia (late 7th to early 6th centuries BCE), through the methodological framework of the chaîne opératoire (operational sequence), in order to reconstruct the objects’ processes of manufacture. Through an interdisciplinary study of the finds at the State Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the principal author analyzed tool marks and surface morphologies, which allow for the comprehensive identification and documentation of the numerous techniques employed in the creation of the often very elaborate jewelry, decorated weapons, and other personal ornaments. The production of both individual pieces and extensive series of thousands of identical trimmings attests to the existence of complex craft processes and workshop organizations. The technological aspects of the gold finds impress through their diversity and outstanding quality, both artistically and in terms of their craftsmanship. As this article will demonstrate, the objects present the earliest evidence for a highly specialized goldsmith artform in southern Siberia.

Evidence from personal ornaments suggest nine distinct cultural groups between 34,000 and 24,000 years ago in Europe.

Mechanisms governing the relationship between genetic and cultural evolution are the subject of debate, data analysis and modelling efforts. Here we present a new georeferenced dataset of personal ornaments worn by European hunter-gatherers during the so-called Gravettian technocomplex (34,000-24,000 years ago), analyse it with multivariate and geospatial statistics, model the impact of distance on cultural diversity and contrast the outcome of our analyses with up-to-date palaeogenetic data. We demonstrate that Gravettian ornament variability cannot be explained solely by isolation-by-distance. Analysis of Gravettian ornaments identified nine geographically discrete cultural entities across Europe. While broadly in agreement with palaeogenetic data, our results highlight a more complex pattern, with cultural entities located in areas not yet sampled by palaeogenetics and distinctive entities in regions inhabited by populations of similar genetic ancestry. Integrating personal ornament and biological data from other Palaeolithic cultures will elucidate the complex narrative of population dynamics of Upper Palaeolithic Europe.

A possible production area of Chinese faience? Reference to beads decorating coffins from Shijia Yucun site, Gansu Province

AbstractShijia Yucun site is a northwestern settlement from the Zhou period (1046–221 BCE). Faience beads used as a personal ornament and coffin decoration are notable among plenty of funerary objects. Thirteen faience objects are determined using analytical electron probe micro‐analysis (EPMA) and scanning electron microscopy‐energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS). The information on their provenance indicates that the types of faience beads around bodies include the mixed‐alkali faience from Europe or the Eurasian Steppe, the soda‐enriched faience from West Asia, and the local products rich in potash. However, faience samples adorning coffins are all local products, and the quality is rougher compared to the faience decorating the body. This unique feature is hardly found in other tombs of Zhou elites. As faience was a precious personal ornament in other stronger polities, it was already available as a general coffin decoration in such a small‐economy feudal state, so faience samples decorating coffins were not likely to be precious gifts from other elites. It is reasonable to assume that faience beads adorning coffins might have been made near the ruins. This investigation is significant to reveal the cultural exchange in the western frontier of the Zhou realm that dates back to the power decline of the Western Zhou period and highlight a possible high‐potash faience production area.

Исследование верхнепалеолитической стоянки Сабаниха-3 в 2024 году

The article provides new materials from the Early Upper Paleolithic site Sabanikha-3 (Middle Yenisei), obtained during the 2024 fieldwork, which is intended to continue the site research begun in 2020, 2023–2023. The research is aimed to expand the evidence base for the Early Upper Paleolithic of the region. Main pit 3 (2024), covering an area of 9.5 sq. m, was connected to the southwestern walls of main pits 1 and 2. The main concentration of archaeological material was recorded in the southeastern part of the pit. The distribution of artifacts suggests that main pit 3 uncovered the western periphery of the site. In the collection of primary knapping, blade cores, mainly unidirectional and bidirectional cores, dominate. Cores for flakes and small blades were also found. Knapping tools are widely represented, including hammers and pecking tools. The toolkit is dominated by end scrapers on flakes and blades, with the presence of splintered pieces and pebble tools, as well as a burin on a retouched blade. The bone industry includes a fragment of a bone needle and an antler punch. The most notable find is a personal ornament in the form of an asymmetric segment of a disk made from soft stone. Based on the appearance of the lithic assemblage and bone tools, as well as the tradition of making ornaments from stone, the closest analogy to Sabanikha-3 is the complex from the Malaya Syya site. Significant similarities are observed with the materials from the Derbina IV site (stratified complex) and the Pokrovka II location. These assemblages appear to represent a single cultural tradition that existed during the EUP of the Yenisei.