Израил дахь археологийн малтлагаар олдсон 15,000 жилийн настай шавар бөмбөлгүүд нь эртний хүмүүсийн гоёл чимэглэл урлах соёлын эхлэлийг урьд өмнө төсөөлж байснаас илүү эрт үед хамааруулж байна.
Science Advances сэтгүүлд нийтлэгдсэн судалгаагаар одоогийн Израил улсын нутаг дэвсгэрээс олдсон 142 ширхэг шавар бөмбөлгийг нарийвчлан шинжилжээ. Эдгээр олдвор нь шатааж боловсруулаагүй шавраар хийсэн хамгийн эртний гоёл чимэглэлд тооцогдож байгаа бөгөөд ваар, сав суулга хийхээс ч өмнөх үед хамаарч байна. Судлаачид эдгээр эдлэлийг 15,000-аас 11,650 жилийн өмнөх үед хамаарахыг тогтоосон байна.
Археологичид эдгээр бөмбөлгүүдээс хүүхэд, өсвөр насныхан болон насанд хүрэгчдийн 50 орчим хурууны хээг илрүүлсэн нь гоёл чимэглэл урлах үйл ажиллагаанд нийгмийн бүх давхаргынхан, тэр дундаа хүүхдүүд оролцож байсныг баталж байна. Энэхүү олдвор нь тухайн үед амьдарч байсан анчин-түүвэрлэгч натуфичууд шаврыг зөвхөн ахуйн хэрэгцээнд бус, бэлгэдлийн шинжтэй зүйлс бүтээхэд ашиглаж байсныг харуулж байгаа юм. Мөн улаан өнгийн зос будгаар бүрэх “энгобе” буюу шавран түрхлэг хийх арга нь дэлхий дахинд бүртгэгдсэн анхны тохиолдол болж байна.
Хебрю их сургуулийн судлаач Лоран Давин болон түүний багийнхан эдгээр олдворыг судалснаар шавар эдлэл, бэлгэдэл болон суурин амьдралын хэв маягийн холбоог илүү тодорхой ойлгох боломжтой болсон гэж үзэж байна. Бөмбөлгүүдийн хэлбэр дүрс нь тухайн үеийн зэрлэг арвай, улаан буудай, сэвэг зарам зэрэг ургамлыг дуурайлган хийсэн нь ургамлын ертөнц тухайн соёлд гүн гүнзгий утга санаа илэрхийлж байсныг баталдаг. Энэхүү судалгаа нь неолитын үеийн нийгмийн хөгжил, бэлгэдлийн хувьсгал нь хүн төрөлхтнийг суурин амьдралд шилжихээс өмнө хэрхэн эхэлж байсныг харуулсан чухал нээлт болжээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
A cache of 142 unbaked clay beads from Natufian sites in Israel is pushing back the origins of ornament-making by thousands of years. Fifty fingerprints preserved on them come from children, adolescents and adults. The beads and prints offer a rare look at who made these objects.
Each bead is small enough to sit in the palm of a hand, yet together they are reshaping a chapter of world history. Dated to roughly 15,000 years ago, they change our understanding of when Neolithic cultures first started making ornamental objects.
According to the study published in Science Advances, an international team found that Natufian hunter-gatherers in what is now Israel made the oldest known ornaments of unbaked clay, older even than clay used for bowls or jars. The beads are in many ways ancient precursors of jewelry and personal decoration. They are also the first known example of a practice that later spread across Neolithic Eurasia.
Shapes, Colors and a First
The ornaments come from sites ranging from 15,000 to 11,650 years old. They were shaped into cylinders, discs and ellipses, and many carried a red ochre coating. This technique, known as engobe, involves smoothing a thin layer of liquid clay onto the surface. It is the first known use of that coloring method anywhere in the world.
The Natufians were among the first cultures to settle largely in one place. A statement from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem noted that people in the Levant molded clay by hand long before pottery or agriculture. Laurent Davin, a postdoctoral researcher at the university’s Institute of Archaeology, said the discovery “completely changes how we understand” the link between clay, symbolism and the emergence of settled life.
Fingerprints Point to the Makers
The fingerprints may be the most human detail of all. Fifty of them survived across the beads, belonging to children, adolescents and adults, and they gave archaeologists their first opportunity to directly identify who made such ornaments.
The study authors wrote that both children and adults took part in crafting items reflecting “newly emerging symbolic expressions.” Some pieces were likely designed for children, including a tiny clay ring not even half an inch wide. The research concluded that:
“The findings suggest that making ornaments was a shared, everyday activity, one that played a role in learning, imitation, and the transmission of social values from one generation to the next.”
A Tradition Rooted in Plants
This was no one-off experiment. The team identified 19 distinct bead types, and many mimic plants prominent in Natufian life: wild barley, einkorn wheat, lentils and peas. Traces of plant fibers on some beads show how they were strung and worn, which suggests the plant world held deep cultural meaning. The tradition was sustained, and it predated the use of clay for functional purposes. According to professor Leore Grosman, the beads show that profound social and cognitive changes were already underway.
“The roots of the Neolithic lie deeper than we once thought,” she said.
The team believes a “symbolic revolution” got underway sooner than anyone had thought, at a time when people still lived by hunting and gathering and were only starting to settle permanently. In the authors’ view, the beads shed new light on how craft production was organized socially and on how symbolic practices emerged at the dawn of sedentism, developments that ultimately shaped the Neolithic transition in Southwest Asia.
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