The discovery of the oldest known jewelry in human history, a ivory pendant found in Stajnia Cave in southern Poland, indicates our fascination with adornments dates back at least 41,500 years. As someone who earns their bread from this business, it naturally delights me to see the inclination towards ornamentation in our codes. Even though we’ve lost the majority of our local customers due to the soaring dollar exchange rate…
Researchers from Germany, Italy, and Poland utilized radiocarbon dating techniques to determine the age of the ivory pendant, found amongst animal bones in a cave and adorned with dot patterns. They concluded it to be 41,500 years old.
The researchers claim the pendant to be the oldest known evidence of jewelry use by humans in Eurasia, potentially representing the emergence of ornamental behavior in human evolution.
Initially excavated in 2010 in Stajnia Cave in southern Poland, a region known to have been inhabited by both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens groups, the pendant’s irregularly processed 50 decorative patterns and two holes were digitally reconstructed using state-of-the-art 3D scanning and modeling techniques.
Dr. Wioletta Nowaczewska, one of the study’s authors, states, “This piece of jewelry demonstrates the creativity and extraordinary manual skills of the dominant Homo sapiens group in the area. The approximately 3.7-millimeter thickness of the plaque and the meticulously drilled holes for attachment exhibit surprising precision.”
The team aims to gain further insights into jewelry habits in Central and Eastern Europe by conducting detailed analyses on other ivory objects found in Stajnia Cave and continuing their work at archaeological sites across Poland.
