Personal Ornaments Research Articles

Processing technology for the objects of mobile art in the Upper Paleolithic of Siberia (the Malta site)

Investigation of the technological aspects of the processing of the Siberian collection of animal materials opens up new possibilities for the historical and cultural reconstructions of archaeological materials. The complete collection of processed ivory reflecting technological cycles is shown in single sites of the Classical stage of the Upper Paleolithic in Siberia (Malta, Ust-Cova, Afontova Gora, Listvenka, and Jansky). Materials of animal origin from the collection of Malta (especially ivory) are suitable for their preservation for microscopic analysis. The Malta-site is the main archaeological site of the Upper Paleolithic in Siberia (dated near 19,000–23,000 years BP). The collection is represented by the more than 650 decorated objects of ivory, antler, and bone. A detailed study of the most part of the collection stored in the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) has established the general steps of processing the ivory, antler, and bone articles at the time of Siberian's Upper Paleolithic. Mobile art of Malta is well known in the scientific and popular press, but our study differs from other studies. The work is based on a set of morphological data, technical, use wear analyzes and experiment. The collection includes the sculptures of people, birds, fish, and animals as well as ornamented plates, rods, and personal ornaments. The microscopic analysis allows one to systematize the process of shape formation, the processing, and the ornamentation of Paleolithic sculptures and personal ornamentations of Malta. In addition, we propose certain stable sets of tools and techniques used to work with each of the selected morphological types of Paleolithic sculpture. We have identified all steps of manufacturing the mobile art pieces including flaking, drilling, carving, grinding, and polishing. A number of tools were employed for the manufacture of artifacts: hammer stones, retouches, bow-shaped drills, perforators, boring, different kinds of burins and knives, reamers, engravers, grinding tablets, and scrapers. The basic tools that were involved in forming shape were planer knives and some variants of scrapers. Burins and knives were employed to make decorative elements. According our opinion, In Malta's tool kit were: the bow-shaped drills, perforators, and burins, as well as different kind of burins were used for drilling the holes and forming of the ornamental elements. The different types of abrasives were also used.

On the use of space at La Peña de Estebanvela (Ayllón, Segovia, Spain): An approach to economic and social behaviour in the Upper Magdalenian

The use of space inside La Peña de Estebanvela Rock-shelter and the activities carried out away from the site are analysed in this article in order to reconstruct the economic and social behaviour of the human group that occupied the site in the Upper Magdalenian (15,010–14,610 cal BP and 14,290–13,730 cal BP). Level III, which is geologically homogeneous and has yielded a large lithic and faunal record was selected for this purpose. The micro-spatial analysis of the level has differentiated two significant units in the central sector of the deposit which may correspond to an area used for intensive flint knapping (Unit 2), and a multi-functional area where hunting weapons were prepared, prey was butchered and defleshed, and hides were processed (Unit 3). The study of the use of the territory around the site reveals a strategy of diversified hunting, especially between late spring and early autumn, oriented towards ibex, horse, red deer and, to a lesser extent, chamois, roe deer and lynxes. This activity was complemented by the use of other resources, like fishing and gathering plants. Stocks of flint and personal ornaments made from marine molluscs confirm the territorial mobility of the residents of La Peña de Estebanvela.

Why this revolution? Explaining the major technical shift in Southwestern Europe during the 7th millennium cal. BC

During the course of the 7th millennium cal. BC, a major change occurred in stone-working techniques and tool types among the lithic industries of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in North Africa and Western Europe. These mutations not only affected the function and shape of certain tools, but also modified volume management and the techniques used for blade removal. This article proposes a new exploration of this shift, which is the most important during the Mesolithic in Europe, based on the interrogation of a database of 570 sites, using very strict ordering criteria. The examination of the first occurrences of these industries region by region reveals a diffusionist process that seems to begin in North Africa (Tunisia) at the end of the 8th or the very beginning of the 7th millennium cal. BC, before spreading progressively towards the Atlantic Ocean. The data are not yet reliable enough to understand the process beyond the north of the Loire River (Northern France). It then underwent a regional stylistic diversification everywhere. This technical mutation has not been recorded for bone tools or personal ornaments. It was not accompanied by a transformation in social organization, such as for cemeteries during the Early Mesolithic. An analysis of the available data also calls into question all the economic changes sometimes evoked for these periods. Climatic change does not have a direct impact on this phenomenon. Apart from Portugal, which is on the geographic fringe of this shift, the 6200 cal. BC climatic crisis clearly occurred after this diffusion and had no direct effect on its development. On the other hand, the geographic modifications induced by the Holocene warming clearly affected the extension of this phenomenon to Western Europe, with the marine transgression

NEOLİTİK DÖNEM KİŞİSEL SÜS EŞYALARI: YENİ YAKLAŞIMLAR VE TÜRKİYE'DEKİ SON ARAŞTIRMALAR

For a long time the personal ornaments, beads, pendants and bracelets, of the Neolithic period remained little researched. Recent work has begun to reveal how ornaments were used, what they were made from, how they were made and how they related to other aspects of Neolithic life. In addition to fundamental questions about typology and chronology, new questions have arisen as a result of the increase in knowledge about ornaments. For example, how production was organised and the degree to which it was specialized, as well as the meaning and purpose of beads, whether they were ornamental, or transmitted messages to those that came in contact with them. This article considers the current state of research into the enigmatic world of Neolithic ornaments, typological and chronological trends, how they can be interpreted, what they can tell us about Neolithic technology and identity and how remaining questions might be answered in future research. In its conclusions the article considers what personal ornaments can tell us about how people in prehistory perceived themselves and their relationships to others.

Assessing bone and antler exploitation at Riparo Mochi (Balzi Rossi, Italy): implications for the characterization of the Aurignacian in South-western Europe

The Aurignacian typo-technological tradition has long been considered linked with the dispersal of anatomically Modern Humans over western Eurasia at the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic. In Europe it is commonly divided into two main phases, the Proto-Aurignacian and the Early Aurignacian whose definitions is based on the typo-technological features of lithics and some osseous “markers” like the split-based points. The osseous industry has recurrently been cited as a major innovation signaling the transition from Middle to Early Upper Palaeolithic. Nevertheless, recent studies strongly suggest that the real innovation is antler working, as bone working has been found to be similar in the Mousterian and the Early Upper Palaeolithic. Riparo Mochi is among the key Western European sites for assessing the nature of shifts and continuities between the Proto- and Early Aurignacian phases of the technocomplex. These data are significant for the study of the distribution of the first anatomically Modern Humans in Eurasia owing to several factors: (1) preservation of the Proto- and Early Aurignacian levels; (2) their location along the likely southern dispersal route of the Aurignacian; (3) the richness of archaeological evidence; and (4) recent re-evaluation of their chrono-stratigraphy. The study of worked osseous remains allows us to establish the comparative characteristics of animal raw material exploitation within the Riparo Mochi Aurignacian. Results demonstrate that animal raw material exploitation increases from the bottom to the top of the archaeological sequence at this site. Hunting weapons, as well as personal ornaments other than those made on shells, are only present in Early Aurignacian layers. Antler working is not documented in the Proto-Aurignacian, which is consistent with the hypothesis of the appearance of antler hunting weapons only after the Heinrich Stadial 4 and Campanian Ignimbrite climatic events.

Cultural prehistory in southern Europe

Archaeology The Protoaurignacian culture appeared in the southern European archeological record around 42,000 years ago and was characterized by artefacts including personal ornaments and bladelets. Archaeologists have debated whether it was ancestral Homo sapiens or Neandertals who made these tools and ornaments. Benazzi et al. analyzed dental remains from two Protoaurignacian sites in Italy and confirm that they were H. sapiens . The arrival of this culture may have led to the demise of Neandertals in these areas (see the Perspective by Conard et al. ). Science , this issue p. [793][1]; see also p. [754][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaa2773 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aab0234

Ornaments reveal resistance of North European cultures to the spread of farming.

The transition to farming is the process by which human groups switched from hunting and gathering wild resources to food production. Understanding how and to what extent the spreading of farming communities from the Near East had an impact on indigenous foraging populations in Europe has been the subject of lively debates for decades. Ethnographic and archaeological studies have shown that population replacement and admixture, trade, and long distance diffusion of cultural traits lead to detectable changes in symbolic codes expressed by associations of ornaments on the human body. Here we use personal ornaments to document changes in cultural geography during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. We submitted a binary matrix of 224 bead-types found at 212 European Mesolithic and 222 Early Neolithic stratigraphic units to a series of spatial and multivariate analyses. Our results reveal consistent diachronic and geographical trends in the use of personal ornaments during the Neolithisation. Adoption of novel bead-types combined with selective appropriation of old attires by incoming farmers is identified in Southern and Central Europe while cultural resistance leading to the nearly exclusive persistence of indigenous personal ornaments characterizes Northern Europe. We argue that this pattern reflects two distinct cultural trajectories with different potential for gene flow.

HORNED FIGURINES MADE OF STONE FROM THE NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC PERIODS AND THE DOMESTICATION OF SHEEP AND GOAT

At the time of writing, fourteen horned figurines made of stone have been uncovered in eight archaeological sites of the Levant and southern Anatolia dating to the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (6th and 5th millennium cal bc). Their striking stylistic similarity, together with their low frequency, requires a detailed analysis. The figurines, produced of locally accessible stone, feature the head of a horned animal with characteristic spiralling horns. No comparable figurines manufactured of a different raw material like clay or ivory have been uncovered. Three typological groups can be distinguished based on the shape of the horns, possibly identified as Capra falconeri (Group 1) and Ovis aries orientalis (Groups 2 and 3) in different degrees of stylization. Recent genetic studies demonstrate that these species were progenitors of the domestic sheep and goat, respectively. Figurines of the second and third typological groups are pierced, which suggests that they were worn as personal ornaments. This paper draws attention to these figurines as a coherent group and suggests some possible meanings in proto-historic society. Their stylistic homogeneity is tentatively ascribed to a shared iconographic language across the Levant at the onset of agriculture.

Molluscs emergent, Part II: themes and trends in the scientific investigation of molluscs and their shells as past human resources

Recent work in three major research themes involving molluscs is reviewed: 1. molluscs in past human diets and subsistence systems, sclerochemistry and seasonality studies on mollusc harvesting times using stable isotopes of oxygen; 2. the impact of foraging on mollusc populations, resource management strategies, and settlement patterns and mobility of coastal foragers; and 3. mollusc shells as artefacts and personal ornaments, including manufacture and use, provenance studies and exchange systems, and human cognition. Most of the discussion is about marine molluscs and their shells, although land snails and freshwater shells are also considered, where appropriate.

Parures annulaires massives à décor incisé du Bronze moyen au Nord-Ouest de la France (Bretagne, Pays de la Loire, Basse-Normandie). Pour une remise en question du type de Bignan

Au cours du Bronze moyen, la production metallique est caracterisee, entre autres, par la diffusion de parures annulaires originales, massives et portant un riche decor incise, qui constituent la forme de parure majoritaire au sein des depots de cette periode en France de l’Ouest. J. Briard (1965) fut le premier a individualiser ces objets, auxquels il donna le nom de bracelets du type de Bignan, d’apres un depot morbihannais en contenant dix-huit exemplaires. Presents tres frequemment dans les depots du Massif armoricain, ces objets sont depuis indistinctement designes ainsi lors de leur decouverte. Il semble desormais necessaire de revenir sur cette denomination, qui regroupe des productions parfois tres differentes, et qui ne permet pas la prise en compte des particularismes morphologiques et decoratifs regionaux. La presente etude concerne les parures annulaires decouvertes en Bretagne, Pays de la Loire et Basse-Normandie, une aire geographique formant une zone relativement homogene pour ce type de productions. Les regions Haute-Normandie, Poitou-Charentes, Aquitaine, Ile-de-France et le Sud de l’Angleterre ont livre des objets relativement proches, mais dont la morphologie et le decor se distinguent cependant par des caracteristiques regionales propres. Ils seront donc egalement etudies ici afin de replacer le Nord-Ouest francais au sein d’un phenomene qui apparait generalise a l’ensemble de l’Europe atlantique. Il convient aujourd’hui de determiner les ressemblances et differences existant entre les zones de concentration de ces objets, ainsi que de tenter d’en deceler les mecanismes de production, d’utilisation, d’echange et de depot. L’etude precise de la repartition geographique, des contextes de decouverte, des caracteres morphologiques et decoratifs de ces elements de parure permet de proposer une classification renouvelee ainsi que la definition de plusieurs groupes de production. Les differentes zones geographiques etudiees ici presentent des combinaisons preferentielles de criteres morphologiques et decoratifs, liees a des choix techniques, symboliques ou esthetiques, necessitant une reprise des donnees concernant la typologie et la terminologie des bracelets du type de Bignan.

Premiers temps du Magdalénien en Gironde : réévaluation des fouilles Trécolle à Saint-Germain-la-Rivière (France)

The Magdalenian site of Saint-Germain-la-Rivière (Gironde, France) has often figured in debates and discussions about the Late Upper Palaeolithic of Western Europe. Most of the discussions are based on the material excavated by R. Blanchard — in particular the now well-known burial — as well as the more rigorous excavations by G. Trécolle in the slope deposits. After the detailed study of all this material by M. Lenoir, which allowed the material from the slope and terrace deposits to be attributed to the Lower and Middle Magdalenian, many other studies were carried out by various researchers on specific aspects of the collections (lithics, personal ornaments, fauna). It became clear, however, that the stratigraphic framework and chronology of the site needed to be reexamined. In order to understand the rise of the classic Magdalenian in Gironde, members of the Magdatis project reexamined many early Middle Magdalenian sites and collections of that area. The thorough work of Trécolle at Saint-Germain-la-Rivière was pivotal to this reas sessment. Initially, this involved the analysis of his fieldnotes which led to an archaeostratigraphic reattribution of most artefacts into two principal units, with a potentially problematic interface between these. Once these new archaeostratigraphic divisions had been determined, analysis of the artefacts could proceed. The comparison of the lithic and bone/ antler industries with those of other sites has afforded us new insights into the nature of the types of technical and economic behaviour of this initial Magdalenian in Western Europe. In terms of lithic and osseous raw material, we have found a good degree of continuity between the two units. The differing treatment of domestic versus hunting flint tools is also an important aspect to consider in the discussion of the changes that took place in huntergatherer societies at this time. The bone/ antler industry shows some continuity between units (for example the use of the groove and splinter technique), but also some differences (in the upper unit : less diversity in tools ; a higher frequency of decorated objects). The systematization of standardized blade production in the upper unit is accompanied by an increase in size of antler points. The production of different lithic projectile morphotypes (backed microbladelets versus scalene bladelets), in parallel with a change in base types within antler points, in addition to the presence or absence of grooves, demonstrate that changes occurred in the toolkits used. A reassessment of the faunal remains also helped to clarify the practices having occurred in each of the two principal stratigraphic units ; combined with a taphonomic analysis, the specific subsistence practices in each could be identified. Different hunting strategies were noticed regarding saiga antelope (hunting within female groups versus mixed herds) as well as differing carcass treatment (degree of intensity of marrow extraction, carcass processing techniques). Our analysis also revealed that small-game hunting (birds and small mammals) had already been practised in the earliest Magdalenian phases at the site, thus providing a more complete picture of these reindeer and saiga antelope hunters. Taking into account all of these data and practices allows us to be more specific about the type and pace of technical and subsistence changes having occurred during this period. New 14C dates taken directly from bones of identified species or characteristic organic artefacts also aid us in shedding new light on the two main phases of the Magdalenian. The Trécolle excavation and its collections can thus be placed within the overall Saint-Germain-la-Rivière site sequence and compared with other contemporaneous sites in Western Europe which have also benefited from a renewed stratigraphic, archaeological and chronological assessment and framework.

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS AT THE NAHAL MISHMAR CAVE OF THE TREASURE

A renewed study of beads and pendants from the Cave of the Treasure in Nahal Mishmar (Judean Desert, Israel) was carried out in order to enhance our understanding of south Levantine Chalcolithic personal ornaments. The analysis of raw materials, technology, and style of these items reveal possible connections going as far as Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula to the south and west, and the Indus Valley and Afghanistan to the east. These artifacts complement finds from other Ghassulian Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3800 b.c.e.) sites and further our understanding of the role of personal ornaments during this timespan.

Frog in the Pond: Gökçeada (Imbros), an Aegean Stepping-stone in the Chalcolithic use ofSpondylusShell

The use of marine shells in the manufacture of bracelets and beads is a well-attested phenomenon of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of Western Anatolia, the Aegean, and the Balkans. The site of Gökçeada-Uğurlu, located on an island in the Aegean between mainland Europe and Anatolia, shows evidence for the manufacture and use of bracelets and beads from Spondylus and Glycymeris shell. This use of personal ornamentation ties the site into one of the widest material culture production and trade networks of the prehistoric period. This article explores the possible role of, and influences on, an island site within the wider context of long-distance exchange. The life history of shell products is investigated, showing that a bracelet may have gone through processes of transformation in order to remain in use. The article also questions whether there was a relationship between the use of marine shell and white marble from which similar products were manufactured in contemporary contexts. In its conclusions the article addresses the value of materials and of the personal ornaments they were used to make.

Making Sense through Touch

ABSTRACTThis article explores the role of touch in the creation of meaning for ethnographic museum collections. It presents a collaborative study conducted at the McCord Museum in which groups of Inuit elders were invited to share their knowledge and memories about objects of everyday life collected in the Canadian Arctic during the first half of the twentieth century. The aim of this research was to gather the elders' interpretations of ancient hunting equipment, sewing paraphernalia, household utensils, and personal ornaments in order to inform archaeological analyses of analogous artifacts from Nunavut. The article focuses on the methodology of the group discussions, in which participants were invited to handle the objects without constraint. These interactions generated various meanings for the objects: their fabrication and uses in the past, their contemporary value for the preservation and promotion of Inuit traditions, and their role in supporting the well-being of Inuit visitors at the museum.

Isolation-by-distance, homophily, and “core” vs. “package” cultural evolution models in Neolithic Europe

Recently there has been growing interest in characterising population structure in cultural data in the context of ongoing debates about the potential of cultural group selection as an evolutionary process. Here we use archaeological data for this purpose, which brings in a temporal as well as spatial dimension. We analyse two distinct material cultures (pottery and personal ornaments) from Neolithic Europe, in order to: a) determine whether archaeologically defined “cultures” exhibit marked discontinuities in space and time, supporting the existence of a population structure, or merely isolation-by-distance; and b) investigate the extent to which cultures can be conceived as structuring “cores” or as multiple and historically independent “packages”. Our results support the existence of a robust population structure comparable to previous studies on human culture, and show how the two material cultures exhibit profound differences in their spatial and temporal structuring, signalling different evolutionary trajectories.

Ornamental traditions in the Eastern Adriatic: The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from Vela Spila (Croatia)

This paper advances the current knowledge on past foragers’ ornamental traditions by comparing the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from the southeastern Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the site of Vela Spila (Korčula island, Croatia). The assemblages we discuss here date from c. 19,500–8150cal BP, with occupational evidence both before and after the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the region. The assemblages from Vela Spila comprise one of the largest and richest records of prehistoric personal ornamentation in Southeastern Europe. Our analysis has allowed us to reconstruct changing traditions and technologies of social expression and symbolism in the Adriatic during a crucial period of social, technological, and environmental transition. In particular, our data reveal an apparent shift in ornamental traditions and technologies from the Late Palaeolithic, when diverse marine and terrestrial raw materials were collected and modified to make ornaments, to the Mesolithic, when a single marine gastropod was used exclusively. When these results are contextualised and compared across the Adriatic region, and, more broadly, at sites throughout southeastern Europe, Vela Spila appears unique in its significance as a procurement and processing centre for one important type of Mesolithic ornament, Columbella rustica. The repeatedly and exclusive selection of this marine gastropod to make ornaments during the Mesolithic seems to be a clue that it was fundamentally important for the construction and maintenance of identity and personhood.

Palaeolithic Personal Ornaments: Historical Development and Epistemological Challenges

Since the 1990s, archaeological publications concerned with Palaeolithic personal ornaments have diversified. This proliferation has resulted in an intense exploration of the multiple roles, whether symbolic, cultural or social, that these items might have played in prehistoric groups. As a result of this process, there is now a broad consensus that these body adornments are important for exploring the origins of cognitive, artistic and symbolic behavior from an evolutionary perspective. This view contrasts with the conceptualization of Palaeolithic ornaments prevalent during the greater part of the twentieth century. At that time, these objects were rarely considered in debates concerning human evolution, art and symbolism. To explain this shift in the understanding of beads, pendants and other similar artifacts, we explore in this paper the history and the epistemology of the concept of ‘ornament’ in the field of Palaeolithic archaeology. In particular, we analyse the factors underlying why the same kinds of objects have been historically described in very diverse ways. We conclude by pointing out some of the epistemological challenges posed by the current revalorization of personal ornaments.

An Early Upper Palaeolithic decorated bone tubular rod from Pod Hradem Cave, Czech Republic

Personal ornaments are a notable feature of the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe and an important expression of modern human identity. The tubular bone rod from Pod Hradem Cave in the Czech Republic is the first example of its kind from Central Europe. Laboratory examination reveals the techniques used in its manufacture and underlines the skill of its maker. AMS dates and Bayesian modelling suggest a cultural association with the Early Aurignacian period. It illustrates the cultural links across large areas of Europe at this time, although it is unique in its specific combination of size, raw material and decorative features.

Impact of metal and ceramic fixed orthodontic appliances on judgments of beauty and other face-related attributes

Physical attributes, behavior, and personal ornaments exert a direct influence on how a person's beauty and personality are judged. The aim of this study was to investigate how people who wear a fixed orthodontic appliance see themselves and are seen by others in social settings. A total of 60 adults evaluated their own smiling faces in 3 different scenarios: without a fixed orthodontic appliance, wearing a metal fixed orthodontic appliance, and wearing an esthetic fixed orthodontic appliance. Furthermore, 15 adult raters randomly assessed the same faces in standardized front-view facial photographs. Both the subjects and the raters answered a questionnaire in which they evaluated criteria on a numbered scale ranging from 0 to 10. The models judged their own beauty, and the raters assigned scores to beauty, age, intelligence, ridiculousness, extroversion, and success. The self-evaluations showed decreased beauty scores (P <0.0001) when a fixed orthodontic appliance, especially a metal one, was being worn. There was no statistically significant difference between the 3 situations in the 6 criteria analyzed. A fixed orthodontic appliance did not affect how personal attributes are assessed. However, fixed orthodontic appliances apparently changed the subjects' self-perceptions when they looked in the mirror.

Identidades y ajuares en las necrópolis altomedievales. Estudios isotópicos del cementerio de San Martín de Dulantzi, Álava (siglos VI-X)

This paper presents the results of the isotopic studies made on the anthropological remains recovered in the archaeological excavation of the early medieval site of San Martin of Dulantzi (Alegria–Dulantzi, Alava), carried out by the archaeological company Iterbide. The discovery of a series of tombs dating in the 6 th and 7 th centuries inside a church, some of them containing grave goods, has enabled the analysis, in critical terms, of the status, the eating patterns and the mobility of these individuals through the analysis of the isotopes and the funerary rites. Specifically, it has been possible to observe that it is a local society, with a scarce impact of immigrants, and the personal ornaments constitute a social status marker inside a community with homogeneous lifestyle. Likewise, these results are discussed in the context of other studies conducted at several European sites of the same chronology.