Morocco announced this Thursday (18th) the discovery of the “oldest jewels of humanity”, which date “between 142 thousand and 150 thousand years”, near the resort of Essaouira (southwest).
A group of paleontologists presented several necklaces and bracelets made from small perforated shells, colored with red ocher, found a few weeks ago in Bizmoune cave, near Essaouira.
“They are humanity’s oldest jewels,” said Moroccan researcher Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, a professor at the National Institute of Archeology and Heritage Sciences (INSAP).
The discovery was made by an international team formed by INSAP Rabat, the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA) and the Mediterranean Laboratory of Prehistory Europe Africa (CNRS and University of Aix-Marseille, southern France).
It is a “great discovery for Morocco and for humanity”, said the Moroccan Minister of Culture, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, who stressed that it provides information on “the first civilizations”.
They are “the oldest known in the world”, explained the researcher, noting that the shells would also have served as a communication tool.
“It was the first time that human beings used their bodies as a means, whether to communicate with each other or with members of other groups, more or less distant from their place of origin,” he said.
According to Bouzouggar, the humans in question collected the shells on the coastal beaches.
“There are many species of shells, but they went looking for the same species both here in Morocco and in Algeria, in a deposit that dates back 35,000 years, in South Africa, in a deposit of 75,000 years, or in Israel, in a 135,000-year-old deposit,” he stated.
In his opinion, “it means that these people shared something with each other. Perhaps a language emerged.”
The researcher recalled that “one of the oldest Homo sapiens in the world” was identified in Morocco.
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