Scientists have restored an ornament found in an ancient grave of a child. PHOTO

Scientists have restored an ornament found in an ancient grave of a child.  PHOTO

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In the Neolithic village of Baja on the territory of modern southern Jordan, an elegant necklace was found in the grave of a child. Having collected the ornament, the researchers returned it to its original state. They are dated between 7400 and 6800 BC, writes CNN. There were more than 2,500 colorful beads in the grave itself. Excavations have been conducted at this site since 1997. In 2018, researchers discovered the grave of an 8-year-old child. Beads covered her neck and chest. Also inside was a stone pendant and a mother-of-pearl ring. After careful examination, the team discovered that all the beads were part of a larger ornament. With the help of these pieces of jewelry, they also tried to learn more about the child – all this is described in detail in the publication of the journal PLOS ONE. Photo: PLOS ONE “Our goal was to challenge the temporal gradation and rethink the original composition to best explore the meaning of this symbolic category of material culture not as a mere group of beads, but as a decorative creation with further aesthetic, craft, and socio-economic implications,” they write. authors in the study. It turned out that the beads were mainly made of red calcite, hematite, turquoise and sea shells. The dominant colors were white and red. Also noticed 2 amber beads. There were also elements of other origins. It is assumed that they were obtained as a result of cultural exchange. A flat piece of hematite was recognized as a buckle that once secured the ornament behind the neck, and the remains of a ring with mother-of-pearl were attributed to the central part. At the same time, worn elements on some objects probably indicate that they appeared in the design after the use of jewelry by other people. And pendants made of giant sloth bones indicate that people were in America earlier than previously thought. After the analysis, the scientists tried to connect all the elements. This was done for three years. After painstaking work, a necklace weighing 226 grams appeared. Its complex design speaks of the child’s high status. Probably, the decoration was ordered to accompany the child after death. Earlier we talked about a newly discovered worm 500 million years old. Read also: In the Lviv region, archaeologists found unique artifacts from the times of the Roman Empire

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