Ostrich eggshell beads

Last updated
Examples of ostrich eggshell beads found in archaeological contexts in Africa. OES Holocene Africa - Miller et al 2019.png
Examples of ostrich eggshell beads found in archaeological contexts in Africa.

Ostrich eggshell beads, considered among the earliest ornaments created by Homo sapiens , [1] [2] represent some of the most ancient fully manufactured beads. [3] Archaeologists have traced their origins back to the Late Pleistocene, with evidence suggesting they were crafted as early as 75,000 years ago in Africa. [4] Certain populations continue to produce and utilize these beads in contemporary times. [5]

Contents

Ostrich eggshell beads likely originated from eastern Africa. [3] They appear in the archaeological record all throughout Africa in a variety of contexts, including those of foraging, herding, and farming societies. [2] They are particularly well-represented in the archaeological record of the Holocene, [2] and are well-studied in eastern and southern Africa. [3] They can be useful to archaeologists as a way to study symbolic meanings, the creation and maintenance of social identities, exchange, and can even be used to radiocarbon date sites. [6] They also appear in the archaeological record of Asia, with some beads dating to 12,000 years old. [5]

Manufacture

The manufacture of ostrich eggshell beads varies a bit from region to region, but generally follows similar steps. First, an ostrich egg is hit with a hammerstone, or an eggshell fragment is found. Then, bead blanks are selected from those fragments. The next two steps can be performed in either order depending on the group making the beads; either a hole is drilled in the bead's center, often with a sharp stone, piece of bone, or horn, or the process of trimming the bead is performed before the perforation. After trimming and perforation of the bead, several beads are strung together on a piece of cord. [7] There might have been intentional burning during this process to darken the beads' color. [8] Ethnographic and historical data in Africa indicates that these beads were manufactured by women in a time-intensive process. [7] It may have been a seasonal process and regarded as a social event in some areas, with bead manufacturing occurring more frequently in large camps. [9]

In southern Africa, historical ethnographic data all point to the use of iron tools for perforating the ostrich eggshell beads. [10] Collins et al. argue that there were heat alterations to the ostrich eggshell beads found at a site called Grassridge Rockshelter in South Africa. [1] This site showed significant signs of bead manufacture. The scholars note that grooved stone found at the site could be the tool used to finish the beads, since finishing the beads is traditionally done by using a coarse surface like the stone to grind them. [1]

Style

Differences in ostrich eggshell bead styles. OES Shizitan - Song et al. 2022.jpg
Differences in ostrich eggshell bead styles.

The style of ostrich eggshell beads has been used in scholarship to investigate the arrival of herding in areas of southern Africa. Specifically, bead diameter is thought to play a significant part in this process, with a larger diameter associated with the spread of herding. [2] However, in a 2019 study by Miller and Sawchuk, the diameter size of ostrich eggshell beads did not appear to change during the period of the arrival of herding in eastern Africa. [2] However, in many contexts foragers do appear to have manufactured smaller beads compared to pastoralists. [11]

Between the period of 50 - 33 thousand years ago, a study by Miller and Wang suggests that the style of ostrich eggshell beads was nearly identical in eastern and southern Africa, though these styles diverged in later periods. [3] Hatton et al. suggests that larger beads might have been preferred in the northeast of southern Africa, medium-sized beads were favored in the western region of southern Africa, and the small-size in the Drakensberg. [11]

Use as personal adornment

Archaeological data

Ostrich eggshell beads are often used as personal adornment. Though it is difficult to determine the use of these beads in the past, Collins et al. conclude that the beads with depressions could have been sewn onto clothing or bags as adornment. Another possibility is that the beads were placed on necklaces or strings as jewelry. [1] There is also a high volume of these beads found in pillar cemetery sites around Lake Turkana, which implies that the beads were important for identity signaling. [2] The use of beads as personal adornment does not appear to have been differentiated based on an individual's age or sex, based on the analysis of grave goods. [9]

Tryon argues that the archaeological evidence of beads missing in some contexts where the raw material is available in eastern Africa is indicative of the use of ostrich eggshell beads as a choice to reject certain technologies because they were perceived to be contrary to the needs or norms of the society. [12]

Ethnographic data

Necklace for personal adornment made from ostrich eggshell beads. Iziko Necklace of Ostrich Eggshells beads.JPG
Necklace for personal adornment made from ostrich eggshell beads.

Data derived from studying some modern African populations suggests that these beads hold symbolic meaning as personal adornment. [3] The ethnographic data also show that individual beads can be used as a means to display social information, such as details about group norms. [3] In the Kalahari today, ostrich eggshell beads are used by hunter-gatherer groups to adorn jewelry, clothing, and bags. [7] However, archaeologists practice caution when using ethnographic data to inform interpretation of the archaeological record, since cultures change over time. [11]

Exchange

Ostrich eggshell beads found in the archaeological record were often imported from different locations. For example, ostrich eggshell beads are found in Lesotho archaeological sites, even though ostriches were not likely present in this region. [13]

In their study of ostrich eggshell beads in southern and eastern Africa, Miller and Wang posit that since the style of the beads are so similar between the regions from the period of 50 - 33 thousand years ago, there was likely exchange going on between these two regions. They further suggest that the differences that emerged in style of the beads after this period indicate that the regional exchange network seemed to have broken down after 33 thousand years ago. [3]

The specific exchange practice that the oldest beads were a part of was hxaro, a process in which hunter-gatherer groups from different regions exchanged these beads in the form of jewelry. [7] In this exchange, the beads could travel several hundred kilometers. [11] This exchange process involved both men and women. [14]

Social networks in Southern Africa

The trade and exchange of ostrich eggshell beads might be the world's first social network. [4] The variation in beads carry culturally and socially significant information, and the beads can be used as symbols to create and maintain connections within a society. Since the beads appear throughout southern Africa, it appears that their use as decorative ornaments were shared between different groups and peoples living in different parts of southern Africa. [11] Jacobson suggests that social identity might have been established by the size of ostrich eggshell beads, differentiating the hunter-gatherers and the herders in an area where there would have been a lot of economic contact between the groups. [9] In areas of hxaro exchange, the trade of ostrich eggshell beads could create friendship ties between both individuals and families, providing an important social function to the exchange. [14] The beads could both cement and also reassert these friendship ties, in a way that advertised these bonds outwardly. This could serve as kinds of "insurance policies," ensuring help if it was ever needed, due to the beads advertising these connections. [15] According to Mitchell, the trade also maintains and reproduces the egalitarian social values of the San people. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behavioral modernity</span> Transition of human species to anthropologically modern behavior

Behavioral modernity is a suite of behavioral and cognitive traits that distinguishes current Homo sapiens from other anatomically modern humans, hominins, and primates. Most scholars agree that modern human behavior can be characterized by abstract thinking, planning depth, symbolic behavior, music and dance, exploitation of large game, and blade technology, among others. Underlying these behaviors and technological innovations are cognitive and cultural foundations that have been documented experimentally and ethnographically by evolutionary and cultural anthropologists. These human universal patterns include cumulative cultural adaptation, social norms, language, and extensive help and cooperation beyond close kin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilton culture</span>

Wilton is a term archaeologists use to generalize archaeological sites and cultures that share similar stone and non-stone technology dating from 8,000-4,000 years ago. Archaeologists often refer to Wilton as a technocomplex, or Industry. Technological industries are defined by a common tradition of stone tool assemblages, but these technological industries extend to common cultural behaviors. As such, archaeologists use these industries to define a discrete cultural taxonomy. However, technological industries have the potential to generalize different cultures and communities at regional scales that, in more local settings, are distinguishable in both technology and cultural behaviors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African archaeology</span> Archaeology conducted in Africa

Africa has the longest record of human habitation in the world. The first hominins emerged 6-7 million years ago, and among the earliest anatomically modern human skulls found so far were discovered at Omo Kibish, Jebel Irhoud, and Florisbad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blombos Cave</span> Archaeological site in Western Cape, South Africa

Blombos Cave is an archaeological site located in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South Africa. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c. 100,000 and 70,000 years Before Present (BP), and a Late Stone Age sequence dated at between 2000 and 300 years BP. The cave site was first excavated in 1991 and field work has been conducted there on a regular basis since 1997, and is ongoing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Stone Age</span> Period in African prehistory

The Middle Stone Age was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 550–500,000 years ago and as such some researchers consider this to be the beginnings of the MSA. The MSA is often mistakenly understood to be synonymous with the Middle Paleolithic of Europe, especially due to their roughly contemporaneous time span; however, the Middle Paleolithic of Europe represents an entirely different hominin population, Homo neanderthalensis, than the MSA of Africa, which did not have Neanderthal populations. Additionally, current archaeological research in Africa has yielded much evidence to suggest that modern human behavior and cognition was beginning to develop much earlier in Africa during the MSA than it was in Europe during the Middle Paleolithic. The MSA is associated with both anatomically modern humans as well as archaic Homo sapiens, sometimes referred to as Homo helmei. Early physical evidence comes from the Gademotta Formation in Ethiopia, the Kapthurin Formation in Kenya and Kathu Pan in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kondoa Rock-Art Sites</span> National Historic Site of Tanzania

The Kondoa Rock-Art Sites or Kondoa Irangi Rock Paintings are a series of ancient paintings on rockshelter walls in central Tanzania. The Kondoa region was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006 because of its impressive collection of rock art. These sites were named national monuments in 1937 by the Tanzania Antiquities Department. The paintings are located approximately nine kilometres east of the main highway (T5) from Dodoma to Babati, about 20 km north of Kondoa town, in Kondoa District of Dodoma Region, Tanzania. The boundaries of the site are marked by concrete posts. The site is a registered National Historic Sites of Tanzania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Late Stone Age</span> Period in African prehistory

The Later Stone Age (LSA) is a period in African prehistory that follows the Middle Stone Age.

Mumba Cave, located near the highly alkaline Lake Eyasi in Karatu District, Arusha Region, Tanzania. The cave is a rich archaeological site noted for deposits spanning the transition between the Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age in Eastern Africa. The transitional nature of the site has been attributed to the large presence of its large assemblage of ostrich eggshell beads and more importantly, the abundance of microlith technology. Because these type artifacts were found within the site it has led archaeologists to believe that the site could provide insight into the origins of modern human behavior. The cave was originally tested by Ludwig Kohl-Larsen and his wife Margit in their 1934 to 1936 expedition. They found abundant artifacts, rock art, and burials. However, only brief descriptions of these findings were ever published. That being said, work of the Kohl-Larsens has been seen as very accomplished due to their attention to detail, especially when one considers that neither was versed in proper archaeological techniques at the time of excavation. The site has since been reexamined in an effort to reanalyze and complement the work that has already been done, but the ramifications of improper excavations of the past are still being felt today, specifically in the unreliable collection of C-14 data and confusing stratigraphy.

Enkapune Ya Muto, also known as Twilight Cave, is a site spanning the late Middle Stone Age to the Late Stone Age on the Mau Escarpment of Kenya. This time span has allowed for further study of the transition from the Middle Stone Age to the Late Stone Age. In particular, the changes in lithic and pottery industries can be tracked over these time periods as well as transitions from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a herding lifestyle. Beads made of perforated ostrich egg shells found at the site have been dated to 40,000 years ago. The beads found at the site represent the early human use of personal ornaments. Inferences pertaining to climate and environment changes during the pre-holocene and holocene period have been made based from faunal remains based in this site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art of the Middle Paleolithic</span>

The oldest undisputed examples of figurative art are known from Europe and from Sulawesi, Indonesia, dated about 35,000 years old . Together with religion and other cultural universals of contemporary human societies, the emergence of figurative art is a necessary attribute of full behavioral modernity.

Howiesons Poort is a technological and cultural period characterized by material evidence with shared design features found in South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia. It was named after the Howieson's Poort Shelter archaeological site near Grahamstown in South Africa, where the first assemblage of these tools was discovered. Howiesons Poort is believed, based on chronological comparisons between many sites, to have started around 64.8 thousand years ago and ended around 59.5 thousand years ago. It is considered to be a technocomplex, or a cultural period in archaeology classified by distinct and specific technological materials. Howiesons Poort is notable for its relatively complex tools, technological innovations, and cultural objects evidencing symbolic expression. One site in particular, Sibudu Cave, provides one of the key reference sequences for Howiesons Poort. Howiesons Poort assemblages are primarily found at sites south of the Limpopo River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border Cave</span> Rock shelter in South Africa

Border Cave is an archaeological site located in the western Lebombo Mountains in Kwazulu-Natal. The rock shelter has one of the longest archaeological records in southern Africa, which spans from the Middle Stone Age to the Iron Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diepkloof Rock Shelter</span> Rock shelter in South Africa

Diepkloof Rock Shelter is a rock shelter in Western Cape, South Africa in which has been found some of the earliest evidence of the human use of symbols, in the form of patterns engraved upon ostrich eggshell water containers. These date around 60,000 years ago.

Buur Heybe, which translates to "The Hill of the Potter's Sand", is a late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological complex located in the largest granite inselberg in the inter-riverine region of the southern Bay province of Somalia approximately 180 km northwest of the capital Mogadishu. Buur Heybe has a longstanding history of archaeological research dating back to the 1930s when Paolo Graziosi carried out the first professional archaeological excavation in Somalia in the rockshelter site of Gogoshiis Qabe in Buur Heybe. Further excavations by J. Desmond Clark in the 1950s and later by the Buur Ecological and Archaeological Project (BEAP) led by Steven Brandt in the 1980s have made Buur Heybe one of the best dated and closely studied archaeological sites in Somalia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pastoral Neolithic</span> Historic site in Tanzania

The Pastoral Neolithic refers to a period in Africa's prehistory, specifically Tanzania and Kenya, marking the beginning of food production, livestock domestication, and pottery use in the region following the Later Stone Age. The exact dates of this time period remain inexact, but early Pastoral Neolithic sites support the beginning of herding by 5000 BP. In contrast to the Neolithic in other parts of the world, which saw the development of farming societies, the first form of African food production was nomadic pastoralism, or ways of life centered on the herding and management of livestock. The shift from hunting to food production relied on livestock that had been domesticated outside of East Africa, especially North Africa. This period marks the emergence of the forms of pastoralism that are still present. The reliance on livestock herding marks the deviation from hunting-gathering but precedes major agricultural development. The exact movement tendencies of Neolithic pastoralists are not completely understood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lothagam North Pillar Site</span> Archaeological site in Kenya

The Lothagam North Pillar Site, registered as GeJi9, is an archaeological site on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya dating to the Pastoral Neolithic and the Holocene. It is a communal cemetery, built between 3000 BCE and 2300 BCE by the region's earliest herders as rainfall in the area decreased and Lake Turkana receded. It is thought to be eastern Africa's largest and earliest monumental cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panga ya Saidi</span> Archaeological site in Kenya

Panga ya Saidi is an archaeological cave site located in Kilifi County, southeastern Kenya, about 15 km from the Indian Ocean in the Dzitsoni limestone hills. The cave site has rich archaeological deposits dating to the Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age, and Iron Age. Excavated deposits preserve an unusually long record of human activities, from around 78,000 years ago until around 400 years ago, a chronology supported by radiocarbon dating and optically stimulated luminescence dating. This sequence puts Panga ya Saidi alongside other key sites such as Enkapune ya Muto, Mumba Rockshelter, and Nasera Rockshelter that are important for understanding the Late Pleistocene and the Middle to Later Stone Age transition in eastern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nderit pottery</span> Ceramics from some African archaeological sites

Nderit pottery is a type of ceramic vessel found at archaeological sites in Africa, particularly Tanzania and Kenya. Nderit pottery, previously known as ceramic tradition "Gumban A ware," was initially documented by Louis Leakey in the 1930s at sites in the Central Rift Valley of Kenya.Stylistic characteristics of Nderit pottery discovered in the Central Rift Valley include an exterior decoration of basket-like and triangular markings into the clay’s surface. The vessels here also have intensely scored interiors that do not appear to follow a distinct pattern. Nderit Ware exemplifies the transition from Saharan wavy-line early Holocene pottery towards the basket-like designs of the middle Holocene. Lipid residue found on Nderit pottery can be used to analyze the food products stored in them by early pastoralist societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mlambalasi Rock Shelter</span> National Historic Site of Tanzania

The Mlambalasi Rock Shelter is a historic site located in Iringa District of Iringa Region in southern Tanzania, 50 km away from Iringa City. Excavations in 2006 and 2010 by the Iringa Region Archaeological Project uncovered artifactual deposits from the Later Stone Age (LSA), the Iron Age, and the historic periods, as well as external artifacts from the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Direct dating on Achatina shell and ostrich eggshell beads indicates that the oldest human burials at Mlambalasi are from the terminal Pleistocene. Mlambalasi is characterized by interment LSA and Iron Age periods, as well as by cycles of use and abandonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric Southern Africa</span> Prehistory of the Southern African subregion of the African continent

The prehistory of Southern Africa spans from the earliest human presence in the region until the emergence of the Iron Age in Southern Africa. In 1,000,000 BP, hominins controlled fire at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Ancestors of the Khoisan may have expanded from East Africa or Central Africa into Southern Africa before 150,000 BP, possibly as early as before 260,000 BP. Prehistoric West Africans may have diverged into distinct ancestral groups of modern West Africans and Bantu-speaking peoples in Cameroon, and, subsequently, around 5000 BP, the Bantu-speaking peoples migrated into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Collins, Benjamin; Wojcieszak, Marine; Nowell, April; Hodgskiss, Tammy; Ames, Christopher J. H. (2020-07-29). "Beads and bead residues as windows to past behaviours and taphonomy: a case study from Grassridge Rockshelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 12 (8). doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01164-5. ISSN   1866-9557. S2CID   220837809.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Miller, Jennifer M.; Sawchuk, Elizabeth A. (2019-11-27). "Ostrich eggshell bead diameter in the Holocene: Regional variation with the spread of herding in eastern and southern Africa". PLOS ONE. 14 (11): e0225143. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225143 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   6880992 . PMID   31774851.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Miller, Jennifer M.; Wang, Yiming V. (2021-12-20). "Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa". Nature. 601 (7892): 234–239. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04227-2. ISSN   0028-0836. PMC   8755535 . PMID   34931044.
  4. 1 2 Solomon, Tessa (2022-01-19). "Following a Trail of Ancient Ostrich Beads, Scientists Discover the World's Oldest Social Network". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  5. 1 2 Sawchuk, Elizabeth; Miller, Jennifer Midori. "The tiny ostrich eggshell beads that tell the story of Africa's past". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  6. ↑ Tryon, Christian A.; Lewis, Jason E.; Ranhorn, Kathryn L.; Kwekason, Amandus; Alex, Bridget; Laird, Myra F.; Marean, Curtis W.; Niespolo, Elizabeth; Nivens, Joelle; Mabulla, Audax Z. P. (2018-02-28). "Middle and Later Stone Age chronology of Kisese II rockshelter (UNESCO World Heritage Kondoa Rock-Art Sites), Tanzania". PLOS ONE. 13 (2): e0192029. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192029 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   5830042 . PMID   29489827.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Collins, Benjamin (2021-04-26), "Ostrich Eggshell Beads in Later Stone Age Contexts", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.259, ISBN   978-0-19-085458-4 , retrieved 2023-03-24
  8. ↑ Kandel, Andrew W.; Conard, Nicholas J. (1 December 2005). "Production sequences of ostrich eggshell beads and settlement dynamics in the Geelbek Dunes of the Western Cape, South Africa". Journal of Archaeological Science. 32 (12): 1711–1721. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.05.010 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  9. 1 2 3 Jacobson, L. (June 1987). "The Size Variability of Ostrich Eggshell Beads from Central Namibia and Its Relevance as a Stylistic and Temporal Marker". The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 42 (145): 55–58. doi:10.2307/3887775. ISSN   0038-1969. JSTOR   3887775.
  10. ↑ Orton, Jayson (July 2008). "Later Stone Age ostrich eggshell bead manufacture in the Northern Cape, South Africa". Journal of Archaeological Science. 35 (7): 1765–1775. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.11.014. ISSN   0305-4403.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Hatton, Amy; Collins, Benjamin; Schoville, Benjamin J.; Wilkins, Jayne (2022-06-01). "Ostrich eggshell beads from Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter, southern Kalahari, and the implications for understanding social networks during Marine Isotope Stage 2". PLOS ONE. 17 (6): e0268943. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268943 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   9159631 . PMID   35648787.
  12. ↑ Tryon, Christian A. (September 2019). "The Middle/Later Stone Age transition and cultural dynamics of late Pleistocene East Africa". Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 28 (5): 267–282. doi:10.1002/evan.21802. ISSN   1060-1538. PMID   31621987. S2CID   204756466.
  13. ↑ Stewart, Brian A.; Zhao, Yuchao; Mitchell, Peter J.; Dewar, Genevieve; Gleason, James D.; Blum, Joel D. (2020-03-09). "Ostrich eggshell bead strontium isotopes reveal persistent macroscale social networking across late Quaternary southern Africa". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (12): 6453–6462. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921037117 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   7104358 . PMID   32152113.
  14. 1 2 3 Mitchell, Peter J. (March 1996). "Prehistoric exchange and interaction in southeastern southern africa: Marine shells and ostrich eggshell". The African Archaeological Review. 13 (1): 35–76. doi:10.1007/bf01956132. ISSN   0263-0338. S2CID   162133448.
  15. ↑ "Ages Ago, Beads Made From Ostrich Eggshells Cemented Friendships Across Vast Distances". National Public Radio. March 14, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.