TWO small beads made of ostrich eggshell may be the earliest evidence of symbolic thinking in humans. If the beads are as old as researchers believe, they would show that humans possessed this faculty tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
The ability to attach meaning to objects – in jewellery or art, for example – requires complex abstract thought and is at the root of human culture. The earliest uncontested evidence is from sites in Europe that are about 35,000 years old, and includes ornaments and cave paintings. But the beads were found in Africa and seem…
