Researchers reconstructed a unique necklace found in the grave of a girl buried 9,000 years ago
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Archaeologists found the body of a child buried approximately 9,000 years ago along with thousands of beads in the territory of modern Jordan. Later, archaeologists managed to reproduce the decoration, reports Science alert. Judging by the child’s jaw, she was probably a girl of about 8 years old, according to an international team led by archaeologist Hala Alarashi from the University of the Cote d’Azur in France. The bones that remain are so mutilated by time that little can be said about the child’s lifestyle. Field photographs showing bead distribution. (Alarashi et al., PLOS ONE, 2023) The beads are the only clue to who the girl was and the culture of the society in which she lived. The researchers hypothesized that the people who once lived in the Neolithic village known as Baja took great care with burial rituals. Of the more than 2,500 beads made of calcite, turquoise, and hematite, most were painted red and scattered over the child’s chest and neck. In each series of 10 disc-shaped beads, the researchers observed two adjacent tube-shaped beads. This careful arrangement required the beads to be strung, perhaps sewn into the child’s clothing or hung from a body part. Around the child’s neck, researchers found a mother-of-pearl ring and a double-perforated pendant with several beads still attached. Bead by bead, the scientists reconstructed a striking ornament made of several strands of carefully arranged beads. Alarashi and his colleagues say that apparently the beads with which the child was buried were “part of an ornament that gradually collapsed and disorganized after the body decomposed. The scientists add that the necklace is unlike any other creation found in the Levant, a historical region , which stretched from the Eastern Mediterranean to Western Asia. The harmony of colors and careful symmetry of the beads suggest great wealth and prosperity for the family. The pendant has been reconstructed. (Alarashi et al., PLOS ONE, 2023) However, the true masterpiece of jewelry, researchers believe, is the ring with mother-of-pearl. “It is large and extremely delicate, and was probably iridescent at one time. Its surface is carefully and skillfully engraved with fine patterns reminiscent of lace or filigree,” say the authors of the study. The enormous volume of the bead, its complex organization, harmony and beauty are reminiscent of later jewelry that appeared in Mesopotamia and Egypt. “Despite the complex design, the necklace was not created for the purpose of exchange or trade, but rather was part of the child’s burial ritual, serving as a significant evidence of the cultural customs of the time,” archaeologists write. Currently, this necklace is exhibited in the New Petra Museum in Jordan. We will remind, researchers found objects near Jerusalem , which the pagans used for the magical ritual of talking with the dead. Read also: Near Stonehenge, archaeologists excavated a cemetery with barrows
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