http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.14...
The handmade beads themselves comprise 12 Nassarius shells - Nassarius are molluscs found in warm seas and coral reefs in America, Asia and the Pacific - which had holes in them and appeared to have been suspended or hung. They were covered in red ochre.
They were found at the Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt, in Eastern Morocco during a four to five year excavation in the region.
Prof Barton said the finds suggest that humans were making purely symbolic objects 40,000 years before they did it in Europe.
Beads or currency?
I wonder why these archaeologists have assumed that the beads found were used as jewellery. Shells (mainly cowries) were used by many ancient civilisations as currency also. I find it curious that the shells were covered in red ochre - that somehow suggests that they held some sacred significance to these people, whoever they were.
Regards, Kathrinn