'Extraordinary' Necklace From Child's Grave Reconstructed After 9,000 Years

Around 9,000 years ago, an "extraordinary" necklace was buried with a child at an ancient settlement in the Middle East.

Now, researchers have described how they reconstructed the artifact several millennia later in a study published in the online journal PLOS One. Analysis of the necklace has shed new light on the ancient society that the child came from, revealing previously unknown complexity.

The necklace was buried with an 8-year-old child in a grave in the Neolithic village of Ba'ja in Jordan, which dates to between 7400 and 6800 B.C. The Neolithic is an archaeological period that in the Middle East, at least, began around the 10th millennium B.C.

The site is one of the most important and well-studied villages in the Southern Levant region from this era. Since 1997, archaeological fieldwork at Ba'ja has revealed large, deep and complex buildings there.

The grave was found in 2018, with the child in a fetal position alongside more than 2,500 colorful stones and shell beads on the chest and neck, a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring.

Analysis of the composition, craftsmanship and spatial layout of these items led the authors of the PLOS One study to conclude that they belonged to a single, multi-row necklace that had since fallen apart.

"Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba'ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber," the study's authors wrote.

The ornament indicates that the child had significant social status, according to the researchers.

"The abundance of beads composing the necklace, which is a common trait of ornaments found in other burials at Ba'ja, hints to wealth and prosperity," the authors said. "Adornments with a large number of beads—over 2,500—are unprecedented among contemporary Neolithic villages in the Levant."

As part of the study, the researchers created a physical reconstruction of the original necklace, which is now on display at Jordan's Petra Museum.

Unfortunately, the way that the child's remains and the artifacts were found did not preserve all of the necklace parts in their original position. As a result, the reconstruction of the necklace was based on an in-depth analysis of its constituent elements and a series of estimations based on logical predictions.

"The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design," the authors wrote.

The necklace is among the oldest and most impressive examples of a Neolithic ornament, shedding new light on the burial practices of people with apparently high social status.

"This necklace has no parallel in any of the Neolithic Levantine ornamental traditions known thus far," the authors said. "The large volume, complex organization, symmetry, harmony, beauty of objects, play of lights and colors are in fact reminiscent of the refined ornaments of the later urban Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies."

The production of the necklace appears to have involved meticulous craftsmanship. It also required the importation of certain exotic materials from other regions.

This provides evidence for complex social dynamics among the people who once lived at Ba'ja—including artisans, traders and authorities who would have commissioned such an ornament.

The study's authors said analysis of the necklace highlights a high level of connectivity between the ancient people of Ba'ja and the wider world.

"Despite its location, invisible and hidden between the rocks, the village had access to marine, mineral, and amber sources, resulting in a diverse range of ornamental designs," the authors said.

The researchers said that the "extraordinary" ornament was likely intended to be shown. Therefore, the child's death should be seen as a public event that may have gathered the people of Ba'ja, families, friends and probably individuals from other villages, according to the study.