A cache of 142 beads and pendants from five Natufian (15,000 to 11,650 years before the present) sites in Israel reveals that clay was first used not for tools or cooking, but for symbolism and identity, often crafted by children whose fingerprints still mark the objects. The findings suggest that the roots of art, learning and social expression emerged long before agriculture. A butterfly clay bead from the Final Natufian period in Eynan-Mallaha,...
Archaeology News
