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Late Mesolithic extended supine inhumation Burial H267 from Vlasac, Danube Gorges area, with in situ Rutilus sp. pharyngeal teeth beads found primarily associated with the upper torso of this individual (photo by D. Borić).
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Ornaments are polysemic objects due to different meanings they convey in human societies-self-embellishment, means of exchange, markers of age and gender, indicators of social status, signs of power, non-verbal means of expression and communication. Beads have a privileged place in shedding light on the origins of modern cognition in human societie...
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Context 1
... the succeeding Mid- dle Kozarnikian (Layer VI), there are more diagnostic and numerous specimens, such as incisors of bovids, perforated or grooved fox canines (Figure 2.1-2), and red deer (Cer- vus elaphus) canines (Guadelli 2011: Figures 32, 35) (Figure 2.5-7, 2.14-16). The novelty in this assemblage of ornaments is the appearance of the bone imitations of red deer canines (Figure 2.4). The use of red deer canines or bone imitations of the same shape continue in association with the Gravet- tian industry (Recent Kozarnikian, Layer IVb) (Guadelli 2011: Figure 45). ...
Context 2
... novelty in this assemblage of ornaments is the appearance of the bone imitations of red deer canines (Figure 2.4). The use of red deer canines or bone imitations of the same shape continue in association with the Gravet- tian industry (Recent Kozarnikian, Layer IVb) (Guadelli 2011: Figure 45). In this level there are also two perforated bone plates similarly modified, with both lateral sides dec- orated by making a wavy edge (Guadelli 2011: Figure 46) (Figure 2.3). ...
Context 3
... use of red deer canines or bone imitations of the same shape continue in association with the Gravet- tian industry (Recent Kozarnikian, Layer IVb) (Guadelli 2011: Figure 45). In this level there are also two perforated bone plates similarly modified, with both lateral sides dec- orated by making a wavy edge (Guadelli 2011: Figure 46) (Figure 2.3). ...
Context 4
... ky cal BP), and Nugljanska cave (9.3-8.7 ky cal BP), the latter three situated in Istria, Vela cave in the Kvarner Gulf, as well as at the hinterland cave sites of Zala (ca. 10.5- 10.2 ky cal BP), Vruća (ca. 9 ky cal BP) (Figure 6.39), Vrbička (ca. 9 ky cal BP) (Figure 6.40), and Crvena Stijena ( Figure 6.4-13), the latter three located in the Dinaric Alps of Mon- tenegro ( Borić and Cristiani 2016;Borić et al. in press). Dur- ing the Mesolithic, Tritia neritea beads still remain relative- ly popular only at Vlakno, along with a single specimen found at Pupićina and Zala, respectively. ...
Context 5
... ky cal BP) (Bogićević and Dimitrijević 2004;Radovanović 1986). Columbella rustica beads were found in small numbers during this period at Pupićina (Figure 6.38), Vlakno ( Figure 6.46-50), Vela spila ( Figure 6.64), Kopačina cave on the island of Brač, and Badanj. Close to the Adriatic coastal zone, one finds valves of Glycymeris sp. ...
Similar publications
Several studies in the anthropology of techniques have emphasized that beyond their material and pragmatic aspects, technologies are social constructs that produce meanings. Moreover, technical processes mediate relations between persons (human and nonhuman) and things, as a mode of transformative and symbolic action for the (re)creation of the wor...
Citations
... However, systematic production of ornaments appears in Europe only with the Protoaurignacian and Early Aurignacian. The Early Upper Palaeolithic thus marked the florescence of formal ornament traditions, with personal ornaments becoming among the earliest behavioural indicators of human cognitive complexity, reflecting the ability to share coded information within and across human groups (e.g., Bar-Yosef et al. 2009;Borić and Cristiani 2019;d'Errico et al. 2009;Kuhn et al. 2001;Peresani et al. 2019;Stiner 1999Stiner , 2003Taborin 2004;Vanhaeren and d'Errico 2001;Vanhaeren et al. 2013;White 1989). Personal ornaments also reveal possible intriguing information about Palaeolithic ethno-linguistic groups (Vanhaeren and d'Errico 2006), social and territorial organisation, interlinking exchange systems, as well as long-distance social networks (e.g., Álvarez Fernández 2001; Fritz and Simmonet 1996;Newell et al. 1990;Stiner 2003;Taborin 1993a, b;Vanhaeren and d'Errico 2003, 2006Vanhaeren et al. 2004Vanhaeren et al. , 2013White,1989). ...
... Although the selection of ornamental species seems to be driven primarily by their natural availability in the local environment, it appears that further selections were filtered by human preferences related to aesthetic, symbolic and visual conventions, including the perception of rarity. The interest of the early AMH foragers was directed towards small, roundish, and brightly coloured species, reflecting the existence of longstanding cultural traditions shared among comparable ethno-linguistic groups (Borić and Cristiani 2019;Vanhaeren and d'Errico 2006). ...
This research explores the modes of exploitation of marine molluscs at Riparo Bombrini (Ventimiglia, north-west Italy) during the Protoaurignacian and the Early Aurignacian. Our results prove that Early Modern Humans who inhabited the rockshelter extensively exploited marine malacofauna for both dietary purposes and ornament production, offering new insights into human adaptation to coastal environments during the early phases of the Upper Palaeolithic along the Mediterranean coast. Combining taxonomy and taphonomy, we identified five main categories of shell remains within the assemblage: edible specimens, shell beads, non-worked ornamental shells, accidental introductions, and potential ornamental shells. A total of 91 perforated gastropods were recovered during the excavations of the Early Upper Palaeolithic layers. The ornament assemblage shows a certain richness in mollusc species, whose shells were collected dead from the beach. However, a preference for spherical and semi-spherical shells can be observed, highlighting the existence of trends in the selection of shell species for bead production. Use wear analysis demonstrates that some of the shell beads exhibit rounding and polishing around the rim of the perforation, implying that most of them arrived at the site as worn components, possibly forming part of more complex decorative combinations. Finally, the presence of both perforated and unperforated shells interpretable as raw material suggests that the rockshelter served as a “manufacturing site”, where shell ornaments were fabricated, discarded and replaced in new beadworks. This hypothesis is further supported by the presence of broken shell beads, interpretable as manufacturing errors or worn beads ready for replacement.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-024-02148-5.
... We can only use our imagination while referring to ethnographical records to conditionally complement our ancestors' list of other potentially perishable raw materials used for ornamentation. Until now, prehistoric ornaments' role was attributed to the aesthetic, protection, and construction of personhood (e.g., Borić and Cristiani, 2019) or as a marker of age, gender, power, or marital status (e.g., 2015;. Also, throughout varied qualitative and quantitative analyses supported by ethnographical records of modern forager populations, ancient personal ornaments are commonly interpreted as indicators of social status and identity (Stiner, 2014;Vanhaeren and d'Errico, 2011;Rigaud, 2011). ...
This paper advances knowledge of human behavioural and adaptational strategies in coastal areas related to acquiring, producing and distributing ornaments, specifically, the omnipresent marine gastropod Columbella rustica. By applying quantitative and qualitative approaches to the most extensive collection of Columbella rustica shells in the Eastern Adriatic region discovered in the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic levels of Vlakno cave in Croatia, we have determined the complete step-by-step life cycle of this bead type, in particular, where and how shells were collected, produced, used, distributed and discarded.
... The research of systems of personal adornment, including the application of coloration in decoration technology, more than any other aspect of material culture, opens up for us an opportunity to examine the development of symbolic thinking, representing the crucial part of modern human cognition (Borić and Cristiani, 2019). There is a broad consensus among archaeologists that systems of personal ornamentation enable the construction of a diversity of social and personal identities among modern humans societies (White, 2007). ...
... In Central and Eastern Europe, red ochre is documented on mobile art from several UP sites (Praslov, 1992;Lázničková-Galetová et al., 2016;Yanshina et al., 2017). However, no painted personal ornaments made from organic materials are reported until the Magdalenian (Conard and Floss, 2001) and Mesolithic (Cristiani and Borić, 2017;Borić and Cristiani, 2019). ...
... Also, some European UP sites exhibit the presence of red staining from ocher colorant on beads made of marine, freshwater, or terrestrial shells (Vanhaeren and d'Errico, 2006;Stiner, 2010;Perlès, 2018). Modifications using red ocher also included the application of red ochre or a mastic containing a mixture of red ochre with organic matter for covering sinew threads used for suspension of personal ornamets, thus leaving visible residues on beads and pendants where the thread was in contact with the ornament (Borić and Cristiani, 2019). ...
Research of coloring pigments and binding compounds from the Upper Palaeolithic (UP), including on portable art objects such as personal ornaments, provides new insights into social and cultural aspects of human history. However, we lack a comprehensive study of the composite pigment mixtures and binding materials that were produced intentionally and used for coloration. The study of several personal ornaments from the UP layers dated 31-23 ka calBP in Mezmaiskaya Cave, North Caucasus (Russia), shows that UP paints have a complex chemical composition. Using ATR-FTIR and SEM-EDS, we have identified that for coloring organic personal decorations UP humans used composite paint mixtures produced from organic (bitumen) and inorganic (red bolus/kaolin) natural pigments. Also, we firstly identified that UP humans applied a proteinaceous binder, likely representing a kind of the gelatine type animal glue, which they intentionally produced from animal origin materials using boiling. This is the oldest evidence of boiling placing its origin at about 30 ka within the late UP and linking this innovation to the need of producing organic binding material for dyeing rather than with the food preparation.
... Bead assemblages are generally small, ranging from single finds up to a couple of dozen ornaments (Bogićević & Dimitrijević 2004;Komšo 2007;Cvitkušić & Komšo 2015;Cvitkušić 2019;Cvitkušić et al. 2018). The only exception is a large assemblage from Badanj Rockshelter that has almost 800 beads (Borić & Cristiani 2019), which represents the largest Late Upper Palaeolithic assemblage in the Eastern Adriatic, as well as in South-eastern Europe (Figure 9.9). All ornaments are found in occupational layers of the above-mentioned sites. ...
... Among scaphopods and bivalves, Dentalium and Gylcimeris shells were used, respectively. Teeth came almost exclusively from herbivores, mainly red deer, while carnivores' teeth were used only exceptionally, as shown by one lynx canine in Šandalja II Cvitkušić et al. 2018;Cvitkušić 2019;Borić & Cristiani 2019). Detailed data about different species frequencies on particular sites are presented in a recent regional overview by Borić and Cristiani (2019), and in site-specific analyses by and Cvitkušić et al. (2018). ...
... Teeth came almost exclusively from herbivores, mainly red deer, while carnivores' teeth were used only exceptionally, as shown by one lynx canine in Šandalja II Cvitkušić et al. 2018;Cvitkušić 2019;Borić & Cristiani 2019). Detailed data about different species frequencies on particular sites are presented in a recent regional overview by Borić and Cristiani (2019), and in site-specific analyses by and Cvitkušić et al. (2018). ...
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of various elements of material culture that were left behind by Late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in the Eastern Adriatic. It also covers the chronological aspects and settlement dynamics of this period. In this context, the term Late Upper Palaeolithic refers to the Epigravettian technocomplex, which spans from approximately 25,000 to 11,500 calBP. This overview includes Epigravettian archaeological evidence for modern-day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. It's worth noting that the Epigravettian represents the most extensively documented period of human presence in the Eastern Adriatic during the Palaeolithic, although it is characterized by significant fragmentation due to substantial paleogeographic changes that occurred during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. All the data presented in this chapter indicate that the Epigravettian was a dynamic period characterized by efficient lithic technology, long-distance contacts, innovations in technology (such as barbed points and baked clay), and flexibility in food procurement.
... Adornments are powerful cultural symbols that communicate personality, values, merits, intentions, and artistic tastes through their display on the body [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Few things are as visually compelling and impactful as the act of marking, dressing, and adorning oneself when it comes to asserting ideas, identities, or positions [5,8,9]. ...
In 2018, a well-constructed cist-type grave was discovered at Ba`ja, a Neolithic village (7,400–6,800 BCE) in Southern Jordan. Underneath multiple grave layers, an 8-year-old child was buried in a fetal position. Over 2,500 beads were found on the chest and neck, along with a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring discovered among the concentration of beads. The first was found behind the neck, and the second on the chest. The meticulous documentation of the bead distribution indicated that the assemblage was a composite ornament that had gradually collapsed, partly due to the burying position. Our aim was to challenge time degradation and to reimagine the initial composition in order to best explore the significance of this symbolic category of material culture, not as mere group of beads, but as an ornamental creation with further aesthetic, artisanal and socioeconomic implications. The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design. Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba`ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber, an unprecedented material never attested before for this period. The retrieval of such an ornament from life and its attribution to a young dead child highlights the significant social status of this individual. Beyond the symbolic functions related to identity, the necklace is believed to have played a key role in performing the inhumation rituals, understood as a public event gathering families, relatives, and people from other villages. In this sense, the necklace is not seen as belonging completely to the realm of death but rather to the world of the living, materializing a collective memory and shared moments of emotions and social cohesion.
... A se vedea unele lucrări, citate aici selectiv, care includ o literatură bogată de consultat pentru detalii:Barge-Mahieu et alii, 1991; Baysal, 2021; Bernabò Brea et alii, 2010;Borić, Cristiani, 2019;Choyke, 2001;Choyke, 2008; Choyke, 2010; Cristiani et alii, 2014;D'Errico, Vanhaeren, 2002; Markova, 2020; Mărgărit, Boroneanț, 2020; Vasić, 2020;Vitezović, 2012. ...
(EN) Present article is part of a series that was started a few years ago and which highlights the discoveries osseous material artefacts that were recovered from surface researches carried out within Prehistoric sites in Brașov County, identified by Silviu Gridan, some of them are included in the Rupea‒Homorod‒Ungra microregion. With this occasion, data regarding a rare piece (not only among pieces recovered from surface researches, but also amongst those which were recovered from systematically excavations) are presented: an imitation of a red deer residual canine made from a diaphysis of a long bone coming from a large herbivore (cattle),
which was identified on the surface of the Rupea 7 / Părăul Mălinilor / Rinnenberg site from Homorod. The piece is preserved in a fragmentary state (broken in prehistoric times), but the very good state of conservation of surfaces should be remarked. Another important issue is related to the perfect symmetry and the precision of applying the techniques of shaping and finishing the artefact. All aspects regarding the manufacturing technology and use-wear we reanalysed using optical gear of observation (with specific images included in present article).
Artefact could have been used as a single adornment hung on a piece of thread at neck or at wrist (pendant), as a piece of an adornment with multiple elements of the same type or different as typology or raw material (necklace – string of bone pieces/bone pieces and beads) or as an element of an assembly of pieces sewn on clothes or on any leather/textile material. Other means of wearing the adornment (braided in the hair etc.) are not excluded. We under line here that the present artefact is the first one documented in South-Eastern Transylvania, Brașov region.
According to its typological details, the piece can be dated from Aeneolithic (Cucuteni-Ariușd or Petrești cultures).
(RO) Lucrarea de față se integrează seriei inițiate acum câțiva ani care valorifică descoperirile de artefacte din materii dure animale rezultate din periegheze efectuate în cuprinsul unor situri preistorice identificate de Silviu Gridan pe teritoriul jud. Brașov, între care unele și în zona localităților Rupea-Homorod-Ungra. Cu acest prilej se oferă datele privind o piesă rară între artefactele din materii dure animale recuperate nu numai în urma cercetărilor de suprafață, dar și a celor sistematice: este vorba de o imitație de os a unui canin rezidual de cerb, confecționată din fragment diafizar de os lung, probabil de erbivore de talie mare (bovine), care provine de pe suprafaţa sitului Rupea 7/Părăul Mălinilir/Rinnenberg de la Homorod. Păstrată în stare fragmentară (fracturată în vechime), piesa se remarcă prin starea de conservare foarte bună a suprafețelor, ca și prin simetria perfectă și precizia aplicării operațiilor de fasonare și finisare. Sunt analizate, prin recurgerea la mijloace optice de observare (cu producerea imagisticii aferente, incluse în articol), toate aspectele privind tehnologia de fabricare și urmele de utilizare. Artefactul se putea folosi ca element de podoabă unic, fixat pe fir la gât sau la mână (pandantiv), ca piesă a unui obiect de podoabă cu multielemente, de același fel sau diferite ca tipologie și materie primă (colier - șirag de piese de os/piese de os și mărgele) sau ca element al unui ansamblu de piese fixate prin coasere pe veșminte sau alte suporturi de piele/material textil. Nu sunt excluse alte moduri de purtare (împletirea în păr etc.). Subliniem că vorbim aici de primul artefact de acest tip semnalat în sud-estul Transilvaniei (regiunea Brașov), databil, pe baza indiciilor tipologice, probabil în eneolitic (culturile Cucuteni-Ariușd sau Petrești).
... The use of Tritia gibbosula shells for personal ornamentation has a long history in Palaeolithic personal ornamentation (Soler Mayor, 1990;Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2015;Borić & Cristiani, 2019;Soler Mayor et al., 2019), but is unknown in the Lower and Middle Magdalenian. Its use as an ornament is attested in the Upper Magdalenian, but appears to be a phenomenon limited to northern Aquitaine and the Quercy (Taborin, 1993;O'Hara, 2017) where this bead type is found at six sites ( Figure 13). ...
Personal ornaments manufactured on marine and fossil shell are a significant element of Upper Palaeolithic symbolic material culture, and are often found at considerable distances from Pleistocene coastlines or relevant fossil deposits. Here, we report on a significant collection of shell objects (n=377) from the Upper Magdalenian site of Rochereil (Dordogne, France). Despite the location of the site at more than 200km from the Pleistocene coast, the majority of the shells recovered here are unmodified, suggesting that transport and accumulation of shell raw material was an important component in the production of symbolic technologies some 16 15,000 years ago. A detailed comparative and microscopic reanalysis of this assemblage explores which species were selected, examines technological and taphonomic modification of the material, and compares this collection with the use of similar shell ornaments in the wider Magdalenian world.
... Glycymeris shells have been very popular throughout prehistory; they were found in Middle Paleolithic sites (Zilhão et al., 2010) as well as Middle-Eastern and African Middle Stone Age sites more than 90,000 years old ( Bar-Yosef Mayer et al., 2009;Vanhaeren et al., 2013). However, in almost all archaeological instances, Glycymeris shells were used as complete valves, sometimes strung through their perforated umbo or the distal part of their valves were used as half-moon pendants, likely attached using a string around their middle (e.g., Álvarez-Fernández, 2010;Anfossi, 1972;Bar-Yosef Mayer et al., 2009;Borić & Cristiani, 2019;Borrello, 2004;Micheli, 2004;Peresani et al., 2019;Rivière, 1887;Tripković et al., 2016;Vanhaeren & d'Errico, 2011). In European sites, up to recently, single Glycymeris perforations were always found on the umbo (Taborin, 1993, p. 284). ...
Unlabelled:
Personal ornaments are widely viewed as indicators of social identity and personhood. Ornaments are ubiquitous from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene, but they are most often found as isolated objects within archaeological assemblages without direct evidence on how they were displayed. This article presents a detailed record of the ornaments found in direct association with an Early Mesolithic buried female infant discovered in 2017 at the site of Arma Veirana (Liguria, Italy). It uses microscopic, 3D, and positional analyses of the ornaments as well as a preliminary perforation experiment to document how they were perforated, used, and what led to their deposit as part of the infant's grave goods. This study provides important information on the use of beads in the Early Mesolithic, in general, as well as the relationship between beads and young subadults, in particular. The results of the study suggest that the beads were worn by members of the infant's community for a considerable period before they were sewn onto a sling, possibly used to keep the infant close to the parents while allowing their mobility, as seen in some modern forager groups. The baby was then likely buried in this sling to avoid reusing the beads that had failed to protect her or simply to create a lasting connection between the deceased infant and her community.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10816-022-09573-7.
... At the beginning of the Late Epigravettian, an increase of evidence in graphic productions is documented (Broglio and Montoya, 2005;Montoya, 2008; Ruiz-Redondo et al., 2019, 2020), a phenomenon observed across the rest of contemporary Europe (e.g. Sauvet et al., 2008;Ruiz-Redondo, 2014, 2016, 2019, parallel to an increase in the record of personal ornaments Vukosavljevi c and Karavani c, 2015;Cvitku si c, 2017;Cvitku si c et al., 2018;Bori c and Cristiani, 2019) and funerary practices in the Italian Peninsula (Mussi, 2002). ...
This paper presents the first attempt to establish a Mid and Late Upper Palaeolithic absolute chronology of the Adriatic basin, including both eastern and western Adriatic coasts and their hinterlands. The proposed chronology for Gravettian, Early and Late Epigravettian techno-complexes is based on statistical analysis of 278 ¹⁴C dates from 66 archaeological sites. Our analyses are directed towards 1) identifying whether major climatic episodes and corresponding transformations in the local environments are correlated with long-term demographic trends, and potential changes in spatial patterning of human occupation, and 2) identifying robust absolute chronological estimates of techno-complexes to establish the timing of their succession, including their possible overlaps. Results show that the Gravettian appears in the Adriatic area at c. 35-34ka cal BP and ends at c. 26-25ka cal BP. Early and Late Epigravettian timespans are between c. 26-25ka and 18.1–17.6ka cal BP and 17.6–17.1 ka and 11.9–11.6 ka cal BP respectively. The Early-Late Epigravettian transition in the Great Adriatic-Po Region coincides with the transition between GS-2.2 and GI-2.1 and is also associated with apparent transformations in settlement pattern as new biotopes appear to be occupied, particularly in the mountainous areas such as Alps and Dinaric Alps. According to our results, the timespan of Early Epigravettian covers the Badegoulian, Solutrean and even Lower Magdalenian periods in western Europe, hence challenging the earlier interpretations on Early Epigravettian and Solutrean contemporaneity. This suggests an independent cultural evolutionary path for territories that previously (during the Gravettian) showed a high degree of technological affinity.
... Bacho Kiro, Samuilitsa II). Yet, it seems that this species might have had a significance also for slightly later and/or broadly contemporaneous modern human populations during the IUP phases, as evidenced by Bacho Kiro pendants from cave bear teeth (Hublin et al., 2020) and other Gravettian-age ornaments from south-eastern Europe (Borić and Cristiani, 2019). ...
The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves’ sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term.
