One after another, archaeologists from the University of Ankara rescued these unusual stones until there were more than 100 of them. Small artifacts that, surprisingly, always appeared near the mouths or ears of people who died and were buried in Turkey around 11,000 years.
The researchers concluded that the location of the finds was not coincidental, that these objects had been used during the early Neolithic to penetrate human skin, becoming the earliest evidence of body piercing in southwest Asia.
"We knew that there were artefacts in the form of earrings that were used in the Neolithic; they have been found in many sites," says research co-author Dr Emma Baysal. "But we were missing in situ findings that would confirm its use in the human body before the late Neolithic (between 5,000 and 5,500 years ago)," she adds.
To resolve this conundrum, a team of Turkish archaeologists analyzed burials at the Boncuklu Tarla site, in which these more than 100 ornaments intended to be used in body piercings were discovered, as explained in an article published in the magazine Antiquity.
"We wanted to know the first examples of body piercing, what materials were used for decorative purposes and who pierced their bodies," says Dr Baysal. The stones were discovered directly next to the ears and chins of the deceased, providing strong evidence that they were used in piercings.
Of the ornaments found, 85 are complete and most are made of limestone, obsidian or river pebbles. Their different sizes and shapes suggest that they were made to be worn in both ear and lower lip piercings (called labrets).
These findings are supported by analysis of the skeletons, which determined wear on the lower incisors that fit with examples of labret use in several modern and past cultures. Closer examination of the skeletons also found that piercings were present in both males and females.
What caught the attention of specialists is that the ornaments were used exclusively by adults. None of the child burials had evidence of these ornaments. “This suggests that the piercings were not just aesthetic, but had a social meaning. It is likely that they acted as a rite of passage when a person reached maturity,” they write in the article.
These discoveries provide the first indication as to the purpose for which early piercings were made and used. "It shows that the traditions that are still part of our lives today were already developed at the important moment of transition when people began to settle in permanent villages in Western Asia more than 10,000 years ago," says Baysal.
The finding also provides an additional means to explore how people in the past expressed their identities through their appearance. "They had very complex ornamentation practices that included beads, bracelets and pendants, including a highly developed symbolic world that was expressed through the human body," concludes the expert from Ankara University.
