Louis J. Sheehan.  Three sea-snail shells previously discovered at Stone Age sites in Israel and Algeria contain intentionally fashioned holes in their centers, making the finds the oldest known examples of personal decoration, a research team says.

The trio of perforated shells apparently served as beads, conclude Marian Vanhaeren of University College London and her colleagues. Holes in the shells look nothing like those that occur naturally in modern sea-snail shells, the