The Oldest Piercings Ever Found: From Boncuklu Tarla to Ötzi
We tend to think of body piercing as modern, or at most a few thousand years old. The archaeology tells a very different story. Thanks to a major discovery in 2024, the oldest known body piercings are now dated to around 11,000 years ago — and the evidence is so well preserved that researchers can tell not just that these people were pierced, but where they wore the jewelry, what it was made of, and likely why. Here's what the oldest piercings ever found reveal about our ancient ancestors.
The oldest of all: Boncuklu Tarla, Turkey (~9,000 BCE)
In 2024, archaeologists announced a landmark find at Boncuklu Tarla, a Neolithic settlement in southeastern Turkey inhabited roughly between 10,300 and 7,100 BCE. Among the more than 100,000 ornaments recovered at the site, researchers identified over 100 small disc- and plug-shaped objects — made of limestone, obsidian, river pebbles, and even native copper — that were something more than beads. They were piercings.
What makes this discovery so significant comes down to a single archaeological phrase: in situ. The ornaments weren't found scattered in a pile; they were found resting exactly where they'd been worn — beside the ears and below the mouths of the buried adults. That positioning is the proof. Earring-like objects had been found at other Neolithic sites before, but without context, no one could be certain they were worn through the body rather than sewn onto clothing or strung as necklaces. At Boncuklu Tarla, the objects sat in the ear canals and against the lower jaws of the skeletons, leaving little doubt. This is the earliest contextual evidence of body piercing ever found — pushing the documented practice back thousands of years earlier than scholars previously accepted.
The pieces required real commitment. The ornaments had a minimum diameter of about 7 millimeters, meaning the wearers had perforations at least that wide in their ears and lips — comparable to a stretched piercing today. Of the 100-plus pieces, the team identified seven distinct types, some clearly seated in the ear and others worn as labrets beneath the lower lip.
The evidence in the teeth
One of the most striking details from Boncuklu Tarla isn't the jewelry at all — it's the teeth. Several skeletons showed distinctive wear on their lower incisors, exactly the kind of pattern a labret produces as it rests against the teeth over years of wear. This same dental wear shows up in cultures known to use labrets, both historically and today, which is part of what let researchers confirm that these were lip piercings and not some other kind of ornament. The bodies themselves carried the evidence of how they'd been adorned.
Not for children: piercing as a rite of passage
The most thought-provoking finding is about who wore these piercings. The ornaments appeared only in adult graves — never with children. To archaeologists, that pattern strongly suggests body piercing at Boncuklu Tarla was an age-related practice: a rite of passage marking the transition from childhood into adulthood.
It's a powerful idea. The researchers note that a labret physically changes how a person speaks, eats, and even breathes — a permanent, visible alteration that would mark someone as having crossed into a new stage of life, perceptible to both the wearer and everyone around them. In other words, 11,000 years ago, getting pierced may have meant much the same thing it still does for many people today: a marker of growing up, of identity, of belonging. The continuity across eleven millennia is the part archaeologists find most striking.
The most famous ancient piercing: Ötzi the Iceman (~3300 BCE)
If Boncuklu Tarla gives us the oldest piercings, Ötzi the Iceman gives us the most famous — and the oldest found on a preserved human body rather than in a grave. Discovered in 1991 in the Alps along the Austria-Italy border, Ötzi is a naturally mummified man who lived around 3300 BCE, more than 5,300 years ago. His body is so well preserved that researchers have studied everything from his last meal to his tattoos.
Ötzi's ears were pierced — and not subtly. The holes had been stretched to somewhere between 7 and 11 millimeters in diameter, meaning he wore what we'd now call gauged or stretched lobes. He is the oldest individual we have whose actual body, not just his grave goods, shows clear evidence of piercing. For decades Ötzi held the title of the oldest direct piercing evidence; the Boncuklu Tarla find now reaches further back, but Ötzi remains the most vivid single example — a real person, frozen mid-life, wearing stretched ears five millennia ago.
Other ancient evidence around the world
Boncuklu Tarla and Ötzi are the headline finds, but they sit within a much broader picture of ancient piercing across the globe:
In the ancient Middle East and Sumer, gold earrings dating back over 4,000 years have been recovered from royal tombs, including the famous burials at Ur. In Egypt, pierced ears appear on artifacts and mummies, and the death mask of Tutankhamun (around 1323 BCE) shows pierced earlobes. Across Mesoamerica, the Maya, Aztec, and Olmec practiced elaborate ear, lip, and septum piercing for status and ritual, with jade and gold ornaments recovered from sites across the region. And labret use shows up independently in ancient cultures from the Americas to Africa, a recurring human idea rather than a single invention.
The pattern across all of it is the same one Boncuklu Tarla illustrates so clearly: body piercing wasn't invented once and spread. It appeared again and again, in cultures with no contact, because the impulse to permanently adorn the body seems to be a near-universal part of being human.
What the oldest piercings tell us
The story of the oldest piercings ever found is, in a way, the story of how little the core idea has changed. Eleven thousand years ago, in a Neolithic village, adults marked their passage into maturity with stone and obsidian plugs through their ears and lips — and the wear on their teeth and the placement in their graves let us know it mattered. Five thousand years ago, a man we call Ötzi walked the Alps with stretched earlobes. The materials have changed completely — from limestone and river pebbles to implant-grade titanium and solid gold — but the act, and much of its meaning, has not.
Today's piercings are safer, cleaner, and more precise than anything available to those ancient wearers, but they connect us directly to them. If you wear a labret or stretched lobes now, you're part of a practice with an unbroken thread running back to the dawn of settled human life. Our implant-grade titanium collection represents the modern end of that 11,000-year story — the same human impulse, finally matched with materials the body fully accepts.
Frequently asked questions
What is the oldest piercing ever found?
The oldest known body piercings come from Boncuklu Tarla in southeastern Turkey, dated to around 11,000 years ago (roughly 9,000 BCE). A 2024 study confirmed over 100 stone, obsidian, and copper ear and lip ornaments found in their original worn positions in adult graves — the earliest contextual evidence of body piercing.
Was Ötzi the Iceman pierced?
Yes. Ötzi, who lived around 3300 BCE, had pierced ears stretched to roughly 7–11mm. He's the oldest preserved human body (rather than grave find) to show clear evidence of piercing, discovered in the Alps in 1991.
How do archaeologists know the Boncuklu Tarla ornaments were piercings?
Two reasons: the ornaments were found in situ — resting in the ear canals and against the lower jaws of the skeletons — and several skeletons showed distinctive wear on their lower incisors, the pattern a labret leaves against the teeth over time.
Why did ancient people get pierced?
At Boncuklu Tarla, piercings appeared only in adult graves, suggesting they marked a rite of passage into adulthood. Across other ancient cultures, piercings signaled status, rank, faith, and identity. The meaning varied, but adornment and social signaling were common threads.
What were the oldest piercings made of?
The Boncuklu Tarla ornaments were made of limestone, obsidian, river pebbles, and native copper. Later ancient cultures favored gold, jade, and bone. Modern piercing uses body-safe implant-grade titanium and solid gold.
This blog is for educational and historical interest. For guidance on getting or caring for a piercing, consult a qualified piercer.