001 - South African art
The British Museum Membercast
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The Origins of the South African Art Tradition
Oka Peter was first excavated in 1991, and fieldwork has been conducted there on a regular basis since 1997. From 75,000 to 78,000 years ago, we've got shell beads that would have been some of the earliest necklaces ever worn in the world. They were using the same materials they used for their paint and making patterns into that red Oka that were decorative patterns. It begins to build a picture of having a Southern African artistic tradition from around 100,000 to 70,000 years old. The other thing with South Africa is that until 1925, it wasn't recognised as a cradle of humankind.
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