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World’s Oldest Social Network Discovered: Exactly 50,000 Years Old!

With the help of clues, scientists have unearthed the world's oldest social network, dating back 50,000 years!
 World’s Oldest Social Network Discovered: Exactly 50,000 Years Old!
READING NOW World’s Oldest Social Network Discovered: Exactly 50,000 Years Old!

Researchers say there was once a social network in Africa, long before the invention of Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Evidence of this was found among beads made from ostrich eggshells.

These neutral-toned, donut-shaped beads, made from ostrich egg shells, are among the oldest ornaments ever made and date back 50,000 years, and are considered unique traces of ancient times.

“These tiny beads have the power to reveal big stories about our past,” said Jennifer Miller of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany. Craftsmen from long ago used to cut the shells of ostrich eggs into many pieces. They would then probably drill a hole through the center of these pieces to attach them to a necklace. Each could be shaped and sized to the desired taste. This is why it is thought that different cultures create their own styles. In fact, this practice still continues today.

Mapping where each design came from can help us understand cultural trends and shifts between regions. “It’s like tracking down breadcrumbs,” Miller says. “Beads are clues scattered across time and space, waiting to be noticed.”

During such cultural studies in Africa, Miller and other researchers analyzed 1,500 ostrich eggshell beads from the past 50,000 years, all found on the continent. They noticed that some of the pieces were dated between 50,000 and 33,000 years ago. The thickness and diameter of these beads from the Upper Paleolithic seem to be equivalent. This indicates that there was about 20,000 years of information passing between ancient peoples. The fact that they are located at great distances suggests that they were used for some kind of communication between people. Researchers suggest that this also shows that the world’s oldest social network was built with these beads.

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