"The universal human habit of ornamenting the body to communicate gender, social status, group affiliation, and other information about the wearer appears to have sprung into being at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic."---1986, James Shreeve, "The Neandertal Enigma," p. 320.
    "Simple round, flat pendants with a perforation near the edge (in reference to Hohokam pendants, southwestern U.S.)----were made of shell, several kinds of stone and even bone."---1978, E. Wesley Jernigan, "Jewelry Of The Prehistoric Southwest," p. 44.
     "If one will reflect on the beginnings of human culture, it may seem to one that the earliest man picked up a flat bit of bright stone without irregular edges---perhaps it was oval----and drilled a little hole in the top, and wore it about his neck as an ornament." 1910, Warren K. Moorehead, "The Stone Age In North America," p. 329.
    "The motive of Personal adornment, aside from the desire to appear attractive, seems to have been to mark individual, tribal, or ceremonial distinction."---1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook Of American Indian North Of Mexico, Part I," Adornment, p. 16.
    "Items of personal adornment, including diadems, beads, pins, pendants, bracelets, rings, and pectorals made of stone, bone, animal teeth, ivory, shell, and amber, are found in increasing numbers at Late Paleolithic site in Eurasia after 40,000 B.P."---1988, Ian Tattersall, Eric Delson & John Van Couvering, "Encyclopedia Of Human Evolution And Prehistory," Jewelry, pp. 290-291.
       "A pebble pendant from level 2 was simply a natural pebble which had been altered by drilling a hole from one side."---1969, Howard Dalton Winters, "The Riverton Culture," p. 67.

PERFORATED
PEBBLE PENDANTS
ARCHAIC

   Humans have been wearing jewelry for tens of thousands of years. Even some Late Neanderthal sites have produced items of personal adornment in the form of pierced teeth and beads. An Early Stone Age site in South Africa at Border Cave has revealed some of the earliest jewelry in the form of beads. They date somewhere between 45,000 and 33,000 years ago. The earliest use of ornaments are interpreted as indicating a newly emergent personal and social awareness.

     It would be difficult to say for sure why any one individual from the distant past would wear a particular type of ornamentation. Frederick Hodge wrote in 1912, "The motive of personal adornment, aside from the desire to appear attractive, seems to have been to mark individual, tribal, or ceremonial distinction." Items worn might represent the individuals religion, culture or a society within the culture. Some forms of jewelry, that are represented in the form of teeth or claws from large carnivores, might represent a badge of honor. Other items worn might be seen to contain special magical powers. Or, as with most modern-day jewelry, it's worn to look better or exhibit wealth.

     Most of the items of personal adornment produced by Stone Age cultures in North America are in the form of beads, pendants and gorgets. The majority of these artifacts were made from organic materials such as shell, bone, teeth and claws. Stone is the most durable and long lasting material but not as easy to work as shell or bone. In the U.S., the most elaborate and artistic stone beads were made in the southeast by the Poverty Point culture.

    The simplest type of stone pendants are represented by small natural pebbles that have been drilled near one edge. All of the drilled pebble pendants in this article were found on sites in Illinois. Most of them were found by two individuals who surface collected on several different sites for many years. So it appears that pebble pendants are not as commonly found as many other types of stone artifacts.

"REFERENCES"

1910, Moorehead, Warren K., "The Stone Age In North America," p. 329.
1912, Hodge, Frederick Webb, "Handbook Of American Indian North Of Mexico, Part I," Adornment, p. 16.
1959, Fowler, Melvin L., "Modoc Rock Shelter," pp. 32 & 35.
1961, Lewis, Thomas M. N., Lewis, Madeline Kneberg, "Eva An Archaic Site," pp. 67 & 69.
1969, Howard, Dalton Winters, "The Riverton Culture," p. 67.
1978, Jernigan, E. Wesley , "Jewelry Of The Prehistoric Southwest," pp. 44 & 99.
1986, Shreeve, James, "The Neandertal Enigma," p. 320.
1988,Tattersall, Ian, Delson, Eric & Couvering, John Van, "Encyclopedia Of Human Evolution And Prehistory," Jewelry, pp. 290-291.

RECENT LISTINGS    HOME    ORDERING