Archaeologists excavating in the area said that stone decorations found around the mouths and ears of skeletons found in southeastern Turkey prove that people had been adorning their bodies with ornaments since prehistoric times, and that they were indeed concerned with their appearance.

Archaeologists have found small, thin, pointed stones in numerous excavations in the Fertile Crescent region that includes the lands of present-day Turkey and Iraq, where prehistoric peoples settled for agriculture — but until now they didn't know what they were used for.

Body jewelry used as piercing

Emma Louise Baysal/Ankara University

Emma Louise Baysal, a professor of archeology at Ankara University, said that so far no body has been found and the jewel is still in place.

“However, at the Bongoklu Tarla site, we found all the jewelry on the skeletons, very close to their ears and lips,” says the professor, allowing experts to conclude for the first time that they were definitely used as piercings.

According to Bisal, tooth wear in the skeletons' lower jaws also indicates that prehistoric people may have had holes in their lower lips. The excavation site was inhabited about 11,000 years ago by a group of hunter-gatherers who eventually settled the area.

Excavations continue in the area, with archaeologists saying that more than 100,000 artifacts have been discovered so far.

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