INTACT RARE AFRICAN NEOLITHIC DRILLED PENDANT OF SEMI-PRECIOUS STONE
Exposed Saharan Site - Mali, Northwest Africa
NORTHWEST AFRICAN NEOLITHIC PERIOD (CAPSIAN): 8,500 - 6,500 years ago
This CAPSIAN TRADITION artifact was found on an exposed African Neolithic site in the Sahara Desert in Mali, Northwest Africa. It was fashioned by ancient man (Homo sapiens sapiens) between 8,500 and 6,500 years ago.
This is a complete Capsian Neolithic drilled drop pendant in semi-precious Carnelian stone. It is in its original condition and features a drilled top which allowed it to be strung and worn around the neck. The stone is an incredible melon-colored type of Carnelian that displays stunning translucency where most Carnelian is darker and much more opaque. This clarity gives it a glowing, magical appearance in light. This is a classic artifact of Neolithic body adornment and ornamentation. Beads and pendants were part of the main personal decoration of an Neolithic man or woman over 6500 years ago in Africa. This AUTHENTIC specimen is without breakage and displays beautiful polish and shape. Most of these that are found are broken or show damage but this pendant is of a grade that far exceeds typical finds. Intact with NO REPAIR AND NO RESTORATION. Completely durable and safe to wear for another 8500 years! Microscopic examination reveals desert sediment and patina INSIDE the surface crevices and fissures - an indication of an AUTHENTIC Neolithic jewelry. Beware of modern copies.
Archaeological sites of the African Neolithic yield some jewelry items and give us a glimpse of what body ornamentation and personal adornment looked like back in this period long ago. Beads, lip plugs and bracelets are sometimes found. Tools and weapons were an item of necessity but body jewelry reveals to us another side of the mind of primitive and ancient Man that the other artifacts do not give us. Perfect to display alongside similar period tools and weapons! This specimen is solid and safe to wear.
In the final Pleistocene and early Holocene Periods around 10,000 years ago, the Sahara was believed to be a highly favorable environment for hunters, gatherers and pastoralists. Freshwater lakes existed between the dunes in what is now the Tenere region, Lake Chad was eight times its current size, the highlands supported Mediterranean forest trees, and a large fauna of animals flourished. The slow drying out process of the Sahara, began 7,000 years ago and ended 4500 years ago resulting in the barren conditions that exist to this day. As we progress from the time from the end of the Pleistocene to the end of the Paleolithic Period, we see man relying more on meat from raised animals as opposed to hunted animals.
At the end of the Pleistocene Period in North Africa, a blade industry developed called the CAPSIAN TRADITION. The Capsian industry runs simultaneously with the Oranian industry and began around 11,000 years ago (9,000 years ago in the Northwest region). This later tradition is responsible for the influence of the Oranian industry and eventually succeeds it at the close of Paleolithic Period, ushering in the Neolithic Age of stone tool manufacture in this region of Africa.
Most notable during the era of the Capsian tradition is the proliferation of various blades and bladelets eventually leading to MICROLITHIC technology. Microliths are tiny flake blade tools and segments of blades that are used as they are or set in composite tools of wood or bone for use as barbs or to make saws.
The various tools of the CAPSIAN TRADITION represent some of the most delicately flaked and beautifully executed smaller stone tools of man. By this time, the flaking methods utilize small punches for extreme control in the removal of material and shape of the blade being made. Some points were so perfectly executed that they were not used at all but served as items of prestige by their owner and are sometimes found in association with burials. These finest points and blades from this period rival any stone implement ever made by primitive man and were sometimes manufactured out of the most stunning gem-grade material such as fine translucent chalcedony and agate as well as transparent crystalline quartz. By this late age of lithic tool manufacture, stone implements have undergone man's development by both trial-and-error and cognitive thinking spanning an overall time exceeding one million years.