Beyond the symbolic functions related to identity, the necklace is believed to have played a key role in performing the inhumation rituals, understood as a public event gathering families, relatives, and people from other villages. The retrieval of such an ornament from life and its attribution to a young dead child highlights the significant social status of this individual. Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba`ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber, an unprecedented material never attested before for this period. The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design. Our aim was to challenge time degradation and to reimagine the initial composition in order to best explore the significance of this symbolic category of material culture, not as mere group of beads, but as an ornamental creation with further aesthetic, artisanal and socioeconomic implications. The meticulous documentation of the bead distribution indicated that the assemblage was a composite ornament that had gradually collapsed, partly due to the burying position. The first was found behind the neck, and the second on the chest. Over 2,500 beads were found on the chest and neck, along with a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring discovered among the concentration of beads. ![]() Underneath multiple grave layers, an 8-year-old child was buried in a fetal position. In 2018, a well-constructed cist-type grave was discovered at Ba`ja, a Neolithic village (7,400–6,800 BCE) in Southern Jordan.
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