ANU archaeologists unearth South East Asia’s earliest ornaments »

It shows that the first modern people of South East Asia were just as culturally complex as those in Europe and Africa and that it was not the cultural backwater as it was once thought to be. Archaeologists at The Australian National University (ANU) have unearthed a 37,000-year-old decorative shell bead on the eastern tip of East Timor, providing further evidence that the first modern people of South East Asian were more culturally advanced than previously thought. Researcher Dr Michelle Langley of the ANU School of Culture History & Language said this is the oldest shell bead ever found in the region and the discovery challenges the idea that Pleistocene South East Asia was a cultural backwater compared to early Europe. "There's always been a big focus on Europe as a place where early people had sophisticated art and complex societies. But now we are seeing new discoveries in South East Asia, like the early rock art in Sulawesi, which suggests that people in this region were just as culturally complex," Dr Langley said. "Now we have these shell beads, some that are about the same age as the earliest modern human communities in Europe. "It shows that the first modern people of South East Asia were just as culturally complex as those in Europe and Africa AND that it was not the cultural backwater as it was once thought to be." The bead was one of about 480 dug up in the caves of Jerimalai, Lene Hara, and Matja Kuru - all found on the eastern tip of East Timor.