Scientific Reports: an ancient ornament with an ornament dating back more than 40 thousand years was discovered 
An international team of scientists has described an artifact with the oldest dotted ornament known to date from those found in Eurasia. Radiocarbon dating has shown that the age of the unusual pattern on the ivory pendant reaches 41,500 years, which is two thousand years earlier than other examples of this type of decorative pattern. The research results are published in Scientific Reports. Briefly about the scientific work is described in a press release on Phys.org.
About 42 thousand years ago, Homo sapiens, having settled in Central and Western Europe, began to carve jewelry and figurines decorated with geometric patterns from mammoth tusks. In addition to lines and crosses, dot patterns were used, which were encountered by archaeologists in southwestern France and figurines in the Swabian Jura mountain range in Germany. However, the exact age of the artifacts with this ornament has still remained unknown.
Researchers have virtually restored the artifact using 3D modeling, which allowed detailed measurements and description of the decoration. According to scientists, the pendant demonstrates the delicate handicraft skills of members of the Homo sapiens group who lived near Steinia Cave on the Krakow-Czestochowa Uplands in Poland. The thickness of the plate is about 3.7 millimeters, which testifies to the amazing accuracy of cutting punctures and two holes for wearing the pendant.
Scientists do not yet know what the dot pattern symbolizes. However, it resembles a lunar analemma – a curve that looms when you mark the position of the moon in the sky at the same time during the month. The authors of the work note that such ornaments appeared independently throughout Europe, which casts doubt on the monocentric model of the spread of artistic innovation.