ABOVE: Ostrich eggshell beads, such as these specimens found in Lesotho, may have been exchanged as gifts among Stone Age humans.
© YUCHAO ZHAO, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY/JOHN KLAUSMEYER
If you’re looking for an accessory that never goes out of fashion, you can probably do no better than ostrich eggshell beads. The oldest known examples of these tiny, Cheerio-like decorations, found in rock shelters in Tanzania, have been dated to around 50,000 years ago, while similar creations are still made by San hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert today.
The beads are often the last of many incarnations of an ostrich egg, explains Brian Stewart, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan. After finding an egg, the San—presumably like ancient human ancestors—carefully drill a hole in it and drain the white and yolk to be eaten. Then they wash out the shell, which makes a handy water flask. ...
