MOSCOW, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian archaeologists in Siberia have used computer microtomography (CT) for the first time to study the contents of 5,000-year-old bird-bone needle cases and have found shell beads inside, according to recent research.
The discovery offers new insights into the material culture of Siberia's Neolithic population, suggesting that ancient communities were highly mobile, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences said Monday.
Similar needle cases were well known in the region among indigenous peoples in the 19th and early 20th centuries, demonstrating a continuity of technology from the Neolithic to modern times, the institute noted.
The needle cases, made from bird bones, were initially unearthed in the Baikal region in the early 1950s and are now kept in the institute's museum. Researchers used the non-invasive CT method to examine the sealed contents and reconstruct how the cases were worn.
Two of the cases were filled with soil, preserving their contents in their original position. The scans also revealed beads made from mollusk shells, the institute said.
The results of the study, supported by the Russian Science Foundation, were published in the international journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, it added. ■
