Ena, Daro and Luma

Ena

Ena is 29. She is Tala’s daughter, Daro’s partner and Luma’s mother. She is making a necklace for the girl with some stones Daro has brought. Lorn helps prepare the beads; Ena arranges and threads them. She has her preferences, but listens when Luma wants to add a different bead.

She finds it hard to share some tasks because she wants to finish them well. When her daughter falls ill, she accepts help so she can be with her without leaving all the work unfinished. Her life also includes humour, conversations and activities that do not revolve around the illness.

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Daro

Daro is 32. He is Kael’s younger brother, Ena’s partner and Luma’s father. He meets other people on his journeys. On one outing he helps a group with a load and receives some stones. Later he promises to return with help before asking who can accompany him.

On his return, he needs to explain what he said and agree it with the others. He is not a professional trader and does not invent exchange. He can say who gave him a stone; he does not always know where it was found. When Luma is ill, he stays and looks for someone who can carry a message.

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Luma

Luma is seven. She is Ena and Daro’s daughter, Tala’s granddaughter and Kael’s niece. She plays with other children, gets tired, protests and asks about what she sees. She wants to choose a bead for her necklace because she likes its shape, without needing an adult explanation.

A bout of illness interrupts her games, but she gradually recovers. The story does not prescribe treatment or attribute her improvement to the necklace or a ceremony. Luma is not the person buried at Ba’ja, and her story does not reconstruct that life.

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A story by the fire

After dinner, some people stay beside Oru. First he tells what happened to his grandfather with a fox and a wild boar; then he tells of his own fall while moving a hide. The children interrupt, and the adults also ask questions and joke. Oru distinguishes what he experienced from what he was told. This conversation is fiction grounded in its setting, not an oral tradition recovered from the site.

Meet Oru · Read his profile and the limits of his stories

The necklace and its historical context

Luma’s necklace is modest, with small stone beads. It does not copy the arrangement of more than 2,500 beads found at Ba’ja, Jordan, from a later period. Evidence from the site allows us to discuss stone beads; it does not identify the people who feature in our story.

Şahin and Miyake 2025 · Çakmaktepe · Alarashi and colleagues 2023 · Ba’ja necklace

The portraits are AI-generated recreations of fictional characters. Image records.