AP: The oldest decorative sea-shells ever found, dating back 82,000 years, have been discovered in a cave in Morocco, a local expert said.
They were found near Berkane in the east of the country, Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, a researcher at the Moroccan Institute of Archaeology, told AFP.
He said that until recently no such shell decorations older than 50,000 years were thought to exist in Africa, though in 2002 the discovery in South Africa of perforated shells dating back 75,000 years had “shaken” that view.
“In 2003 in Morocco we first discovered a single perforated shell, but we worked for four years to arrive at a dozen of the Nassarius gibbolosus (sea-shell) type,” he said.
Bouzouggar headed an international team of experts working with Nick Barton, a researcher from Oxford University in England, at the Pigeons’ Cave at Taforalt, 20 kilometres from Berkane.
He said the team had used four different dating systems which had given the same result, an age of around 82,500 years.
“The perforated shells have a red-ochre color which they did not originally possess and which was applied to them by the men of that era,” he said, seeing in them “a decorative, artistic activity on shells on the edge of the Mediterranean.
“On most of the perforated shells we have observed a slight degree of wear in a position that lends support to the idea that they were worn in a collar round the neck.”
Moroccan, British, French and US archaeologists took part in the research. |