Archaeology

BARCELONA, SPAIN—According to a Science News report, more than 2,500 stone and shell beads, two amber beads, a double-holed stone pendant, and a mother-of-pearl ring have been recovered from a child’s grave at Ba’ja, a farming village in what is now southern Jordan that was occupied between 7400 and 6800 B.C. Archaeologist Hala Alarashi of the Spanish National Research Council and her colleagues have reconstructed a necklace from these artifacts based upon their positions in the grave, and microscopic analysis of the wear on the beads’ openings: the beads were found on the child’s upper body; the pendant was positioned behind the neck; and the mother-of-pearl ring was positioned on the chest. Perforations in the ring suggest it held strings or cords for seven rows of beads that connected to the pendant. “This imposing necklace was made to be buried with a child who had important social status,” Alarashi said. “We don’t know why this particular child was special.”