ArticlePloS one2020
On holes and strings: Earliest displays of human adornment in the Middle Palaeolithic.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- The neural underpinnings of repeated skill transfer in human cultural evolution.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The complexity of architectural and anthropological dynamics in womb-tomb structures: An interdisciplinary investigation.PloS one · 2025Article
- A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Assigning a social status from face adornments: an fMRI study.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Nascent craft specialization in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A? Bead making at Shubayqa 6 (northeast Jordan).PloS one · 2023Article
- Article
- Making ties and social identities: Drawing connections between PPNB communities as based on shell bead typology.PloS one · 2023Article
- Early Middle Stone Age personal ornaments from Bizmoune Cave, Essaouira, Morocco.Science advances · 2021Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Glycymeris shell beads found in Middle Palaeolithic sites are understood to be artifacts collected by modern humans for symbolic use. In Misliya Cave, Israel, dated to 240-160 ka BP, Glycymeris shells were found that were neither perforated nor manipulated; nevertheless, transportation to the cave is regarded as symbolic. In about 120 ka BP at Qafzeh Cave, Israel, modern humans collected naturally perforated Glycymeris shells also for symbolic use. Use-wear analyses backed by experiments demonstrate that the Qafzeh shells were suspended on string, thus suggesting that the collection of perforated shells was intentional. The older Misliya shells join a similar finding from South Africa, while the later-dated perforated shells from Qafzeh resemble other assemblages from North Africa and the Levant, also dated to about 120 ka BP. We conclude that between 160 ka BP and 120 ka BP there was a shift from collecting complete valves to perforated ones, which reflects both the desire and the technological ability to suspend shell beads on string to be displayed on the human body.
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