The incredible number of shiny shell beads found in the Montelirio tomb reveals the power of an ancient female dynasty.

The Montelirio bead assemblage holds about 270,000 beads in a Copper Age tomb near Seville, Spain, marking buried women as elites.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Turns out, beaded jewelry is no fleeting trend. Archaeologists have unearthed what is likely to be the oldest piece of jewelry on ...

Two of the most commonly accepted theories for the origin of money are the commodity theory and the chartalist theory. Both have drawbacks, but in recent years, the chartalist theory has gained much ...

Archaeologists show that the Chumash Indians had been using shell beads as money for at least 800 years. As one of the most experienced archaeologists studying California's Native Americans, Lynn ...

An experimental replica of shell beads with Natufian red organic colorant made from the roots of Rubiaceae plants. (Laurent Davin/Creative Commons via Courthouse News) (CN) — The Natufians, the first ...

Excavations in eastern Morocco have yielded 13 perforated, pigment-stained shells that were probably strung together as some type of body ornament about 82,000 years ago, according to a new report.

Three ancient shells that were forgotten for decades, hidden among rocks and bones in dusty museum archives, may be the world’s oldest known beads, according to a new study. The shells, originally ...

ARLINGTON, Va.- Perforated shells found at South Africa's Blombos Cave appear to have been strung as beads about 75,000 years ago-making them 30,000 years older than any previously identified personal ...

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA—According to a statement released by the University of California, Santa Barbara, archaeologist Lynn Gamble compared and measured different types of shell beads made by ...