Piercings have been around much, much longer than we thought

Humans have been piercing their bodies as a rite of passage for almost 11,000 years.

Archaeologists have recently discovered more than 100 pieces of jewellery in adult burials that are around 11,000 years old at the Boncuklu Tarla archaeological site in Turkey.

Analysis of the piercings, of which only 85 were complete, revealed they were made of limestone, obsidian or river pebbles and were found near the ears and chins of the skeletons.

Their varying shapes and sizes suggest they were made for both ear and lower lip piercings, the research team said.

However as only adults were found with the piercings, the researchers suggest the piercings were not just aesthetic, but also had social significance, such as marking a rite of passage signifying a person has reached maturity.

Co-author Dr Emma Baysal, from Ankara University, said: ‘It shows that traditions which are still very much part of our lives today were already developed at the important transitional time when people first started to settle in permanent villages in western Asia more than 10,000 years ago.

‘We wanted to find out about early examples of body perforations, what materials were used for decorative purposes and who was piercing their bodies.’

These findings provide the earliest evidence for the purpose of why the earliest piercings were made and worn, and how people expressed their identities through their personal appearances.

‘They had very complex ornamentation practices involving beads, bracelets and pendants, including a very highly developed symbolic world which was all expressed through the medium of the human body,’ said Dr Baysal.

The findings were published in the journal Antiquity.