"It is exhilarating because this [jewelry] set, the world's oldest known to date, embodies the values through which Essaouira has chosen to identify its rebirth over the past thirty years," Mr. Azoulay said at an information day dedicated to this discovery.

In this regard, he stressed that this is the first-ever evidence of humanity showing "the existence of structured relationships between members of the same group or different groups," illustrating a "form of language". This presents the present-day Morocco region as a place of "tremendous history" for Earth and Humanity.

"The exceptional performance achieved in Essaouira must be registered," said Mr. Azoulay who paid a vibrant tribute to Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at INSAP (Rabat), who co-directed a team associating researchers from France, United States, Germany and Spain.