The exact origins of the keepsakes disappeared in a fog of human prehistory. But anthropologists generally agree that we humans have been exchanging these tender tokens of love and memories ever since we acquired language and culture. Not long ago, a team of archaeologists rediscovered two crude Nassarius shell beads, lost among the dusty cupboards of London's Natural History Museum. The beads were identified as the earliest known jewelry dated to be over one hundred thousand years old  (Vanhaeren M., 2006). It is now difficult to know if the two ancient beads were part of a body decoration, an amulet, a symbol of status, or a reminder of a romantic walk by the sea. But it is fascinating to know that a hundred thousand of years later, similar shell beads along with an array of novel objects and materials are still being exchanged as gifts and used in personal adornment to represent the same archetypes. 

It is comforting to know, that as the Voyager 1 entered the interstellar space and left our star behind, it carried a snapshot of our humanity towards the distance worlds. A keepsake, containing voices and cultural references of our moment in time 37 years ago...