Ivory beads
Body and clothing ornaments
Upper Palaeolithic
44 000 to 14 000 years
These small objects are made from ivory, bone, deer antler, or small naturally-shaped stones.
Y. Taborin, Langage sans parole. La parure aux temps préhistoriques. La maison des roches, 2004.
Commentary :
All Upper Palaeolithic societies used mammoth ivory. This fossil material is especially appreciated for the manufacture of both weapons and personal ornaments.
Thousands of smooth, shiny ivory beads are used to decorate the bodies of the living and of the dead. These tiny grains of light accompany and magnify at every moment of life the bodies and the clothing.
A real fashion phenomenon, the success of these personal ornaments extended throughout Europe, from Siberia to the Pyrenees, for nearly 20 000 years.It is explained by a simple and fast production facilitated by the diffusion of raw ivory fragments among hunter-gatherer groups.