the oldest piercing/Arkeo news
The oldest known evidence of body perforation in skeletons was found by archaeologists during the excavations of Bonkuklu Tarla in southeastern Turkey. They could have been made as early as 11,000 BC.
According to scientists, piercings were done only by adults, so they suggest that the prehistoric custom could be related to a coming-of-age ritual. This is stated in a study published in the journal Antiquity, writes Arkeo news.
A team from the University of Ankara found more than 100 ornaments buried in the graves of 11 thousand-year-old people during excavations carried out in Bonkuklu Tarla between 2012 and 2017. .
The piercing usually lay next to the ears and chin of the skeletal remains. Most of the jewelry was made of limestone, obsidian, chlorite, copper, or river pebbles. Their variety suggests that they were designed to be worn in the ears and lower lips (known as labrets).
Archaeologists found the oldest piercing/Arkeo news
Scientists examined the remains of the skeletons and confirmed that these ancient people wore jewelry in the lower lip, as evidenced by wear patterns on the lower incisors. Similar changes can be seen in modern people. At the same time, none of the children's burials contained such decorations, so archaeologists suggest that the piercing was not only aesthetic, but also had social significance.
The find challenges narratives according to which the practice of body perforation was dated no earlier than in the middle of the 7th millennium BC.
The research team, led by Associate Professor of the Department of Prehistory at Ankara University Emma Luisa Baisal, believes that this discovery will help to clarify previously found artifacts, as well as reevaluate the Neolithic data in Southwest Asia.
This demonstrates , that the traditions that are still a large part of our lives arose during an important transition period, when people first began to settle in permanent villages in western Asia more than 10,000 years ago. They had very elaborate practices of ornamenting beads, bracelets and pendants. These people had a highly developed symbolic world, which they used the human body to express, Dr. Baisal explained.
Researchers hope to continue the excavation to learn more about the choice of raw materials and the traditions of body decoration.
Archaeologists found the oldest piercing/Arkeo news