© The Trustees of the Natural History MuseumMore than a century after its discovery, it’s been revealed the pendant was made from a seal tooth .
New research has identified it as a pendant made from the tooth of a grey seal, which would have been worn by an ancient human more than 15,000 years ago.
An "exceptionally rare" seal tooth pendant has been unearthed among the finds of a famed Victorian dig.
William Pengelly's excavations at Kents Cavern in Torquay, UK, between 1865 and 1880 set the standard for how archaeology should be carried out. His team were among the first to keep careful notes of where artefacts were found and the layers of sediment they were in, meaning that their discoveries are still scientifically useful more than a century later.
Renewed interest in the finds made in Kents Cavern has uncovered a tooth artefact that had previously been overlooked. Initially thought to come from a badger, a wolf or a beaver, a new study has found that the tooth actually came from a seal.
As the cave was over 100 kilometres from the coast when the pendant was made 15,000 years ago, it suggests that ancient humans were travelling long distances, perhaps as they followed migrating animals. They also seem to have been trading widely across Britain and possibly to wider European societies as well.
Dr Silvia Bello, one of our human evolution experts who co-authored the study, says that the "unique" pendant gives us an insight into the creativity of Britain's ancient inhabitants.
"This pendant dates to a time when there was a flourishing of engraving and other artistic behaviour in Europe," Silvia says. "Upper Palaeolithic humans seem to be creating objects not just for practical purposes, but aesthetic ones as well."
"It's just speculation, but I think this seal tooth pendant might have had some formal purpose - perhaps to show the social identity of the pendant's owner. It could be an indication that the person, or group they were part of, was familiar with the sea and maybe used to live near the coast."
"We'll never know for sure, but it provides a fascinating glimpse into the past."
The findings of the study were published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.
© The Trustees of the Natural History MuseumThe pattern of wear on the tooth suggests it was suspended from a cord, and so probably worn as a pendant.
The pendant's journey begins on the beaches of ancient Europe thousands of years ago, towards the end of the Last Ice Age.
Comparisons of the tooth with modern mammal specimens that we look after suggest that it came from a male grey seal that was around 12 years old when it died. It's impossible to say whether the seal was caught and killed, or if it died of natural causes and washed up on the shoreline.
Either way, an ancient human decided to extract the tooth from the animal's skull. As a seal's teeth normally have large roots to hold them in place, the team think that the person would have needed to break open the jaw with a heavy object to remove it.
The tooth was then worked into the carefully crafted artefact it is today. To begin with, much of the root would've been scraped or ground away to make the tooth smoother and thinner.
A hole was then drilled into the remaining root, with markings on the surface showing a pointed piece of flint was turned repeatedly while the tooth was held still. This was probably a skill that the person making the hole had practiced, because it's quite easy to split the root at this stage.
A cord was then pushed through the hole to allow the tooth to be used a pendant, perhaps on a necklace or bracelet. Only four other seal tooth pendants from this time are known to exist, suggesting that such an item would have been highly prized.
"The pendant was probably worn for many years, because it's become smooth through wear and repeated polishing," Silvia says. "A long period of use would also explain why the neat circular hole became more oval shaped, as the cord gradually wore away at the tooth's interior."
Eventually, the pendant ended up in Kents Cavern. The cave has been used by both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals on and off for tens of thousands of years, but it was our species that was in residence when the pendant was buried.
"While it's well-loved, the pendant is still in pretty good shape," Silvia adds. "This means it might have been accidentally lost by its owner when they came to the cave, rather than intentionally discarded."
© Marcin Mierzejewski/ ShutterstockA wealth of artefacts have been found in Kents Cavern, including the remains of hyenas, bears and woolly rhinos.
The creation of the pendant came during a time in Europe's history, between 21,000 and 13,000 years ago, when ancient humans were increasingly making artefacts from the bones and teeth of marine mammals.
Archaeologists working at Las Caldas in Spain, which was more than 40 kilometres inland, have found an extensive range of artefacts made from seals and whales, including an engraved sperm whale tooth.
They also believe that whale skin was transported to the site, as the remains of barnacles that normally live on the outside of whales have been found there.
Artwork depicting marine mammals also becomes more common around this time. Some of the most spectacular is at Gönnersdorf in Germany, where several seals have been engraved in rocks hundreds of kilometres away from the sea. A similar engraving is also found at the nearby site of Andernach, along with a whale bone artefact.
It's likely that these engravings and artefacts were made by people who had been to the coast, pointing to ancient Europeans making long journeys across the continent.
The bones and teeth of these animals could then have been traded as their owners encountered other groups, and as these items were passed through communities they could eventually end up a long way from their origin.
The team hope to find out more about the journey of the seal tooth pendant as new analyses become available.
"If we could carry out isotope analyses or ancient DNA studies in the future, we could help to map where this seal came from and where it might have been collected," Silvia says. "This would give us a much better idea of where these humans were travelling."
"As we continue researching the artefacts from Kents Cavern, we'll also build up a better idea of the culture and behaviour of the people that lived there. Even after more than a century of study, there's still plenty more we're yet to discover from this site."
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