Exploitation of Marine Shells at Roman Jerash (Jordan) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Marine shells can be common on archaeological sites (even forming sites), and provide large amounts of information about the human past if recovered appropriately. However, guidance for appropriate recovery remains unformulated or not explicitly formulated, leading to too many, too few, and too biased assemblages being excavated, extracted, processed and archived. Guidance is derived for minimum and maximum sample sizes, field sampling methods and deposit priorities, extracting shells from the matrix, and accepting and retaining shells in archive.
journal of Archaeological Studies University of Tehran, 2024
Sea shells are natural-biological objects. They are embedded in geological layers in the form of fossils, but also, to find in archaeological deposits as a result of human activities. Archaeologists can use the provenance of shells in the functional analysis of ancient sites in terms of social archeology and prehistoric trading activities. Archeological excavations in several sites of the Iranian Plateau have shown that from the 3rd third millennium B.C. onwards, finds of sea shells (e.g. Lambis, Dentalium, etc.) rapidly increased. Such shells were for instance discovered from ritual cemetery contexts such as Shahdad, Tepe Hesar, Kale Nisar cemeteries or Bani Surma. These objects are mainly used as natural or polished shells. In some cases, they served as a raw material for making all kinds of beads, buttons, and other ornamental objects.. The main question is to understand the relationship between the use of seashells and archaeological context, and also, their role in Bronze Age ritual life. In this article, the descriptive, analytical method has been used in the biological recognition of all types of shells. This method is also used based on similar studies on this issue in Mesopotamia's archeology of the Sumerian-Akkadian period. The distribution of recognizable species shows that these objects are concentrated in the settlements from south to southeast of Iran in the coastal strip of the Persian Gulf, and from the Oman Sea to the Zagros intermountain valleys, as well as in the northwest and northeast of Iran. The biological origin can be placed in the northern shores of the Oman Sea to the Gulf of Kutch on the northern coast of the Indian Ocean. It seems that with the growth and development of urbanization in Southwest Asia and especially the development of sea trade, oysters have been traded as valuable goods and other prestige goods. The importance of the shell findings is more than the value of the shells themselves because they were used as sacred goods in religious affairs. Analysis of the fields where the shells were discovered is more related to cemeteries and temples as sacred spaces. Also, the significant presence of Lambis shells for the production of specific ritual bowls, placed together with bronze axes in graves, can be seen as the reflection of a patriarchic tradition in the social-political organization of the third and second millennia B.C. Despite many excavations and the discovery of many samples of these types of shells, no further going investigation on these specific objects was undertaken so far. This desideratum reveals more valuable findings in the archeology of the Iranian plateau. Therefore, one of this article's final goals is to focus more on analyzing the context of the discovery of seashells in futur
Shell Tools and Use-Wear Analysis: a Reference Collection for Prehistoric Arabia
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2023
Prehistoric and Archaeological research has pointed out the role of marine resources in modern humans' cognitive and cultural developments. Maritime adaptations constitute a key component of the sociocultural evolution in Eastern Arabia. During the Neolithic (c. 6500-3300 BCE), it is expressed by the colonisation of offshore islands supported by advanced seafaring and the exploitation of marine resources not only for staple food but also for obtaining hard animal materials used for both symbolic and technological productions, respectively in the form of personal adornments and tooling. Although tools made of retouched large marine mollusc shells are reported on several sites, no detailed study has been conducted on their function and role within the socio-technological processes. The present study introduces a prospective approach for the functional analysis of archaeological shell tools from Eastern Arabia. A reference collection of use-wear traces made experimentally has been built: it compiles the results of 65 experiments (23 are documented and illustrated in the present study), including the processing of various animal, vegetal, and mineral materials. Use-wear traces have been observed and described using both low and high-power magnifications (conducted mainly at 100 ×). It provides helpful methodological support for future comparisons with archaeological specimens. The procurement conditions of the shell valves and the techniques of retouch have been discussed in detail, allowing further considerations on the degree of the socio-technological investment devoted to these peculiar artefacts.
A.R. Al-Ansary, K.I. Al-Muaikel, A.M. Alsharek (eds) Man and Environment in the Abrab World in Light of Archaeological Discoveries. Proceedings of the Symposium held in RJumada on 4th-6th May2010): 73-84. Al-Sudayri Foundation, Riyadh, 2013
During the excavations carried out by the Italian Archaeological Mission at the shellmidden site RH-5, Muscat, 374 beads of different shapes and sizes, obtained from both stone and marine shell, were recovered. This paper discusses their chronology, typology, raw material, manufacturing technique and circulation along the southern coast of the Arabian sea during the fifth millennium BP. The authors point out the probable exogenous production of the RH-5 beads, given also the scarce number of these items from the large cemetery excavated at the same site. The existence of production centres, and the specialised role played by some of the coastal (shellmidden) sites of this period are also emphasised.
The Exploitation of Shells as Beads in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic of the Levant
2005
Shells are first purposefully collected in the Middle Palaeolithic, but their first systematic exploitation to serve as beads is in the Upper Palaeolithic. Small gastropods, especially Columbella rustica and Nassarius gibbosulus are usually chosen, some of them naturally abraded ready-to-use beads. This tradition continues throughout the Epi-Palaeolithic. The Natufian culture marks a change expressed in both larger quantities and diversity of species, and an increased preference for Dentalium. The economic changes from hunter-gatherers to farmers that characterize the Neolithic period are also expressed in new strategies of shell exploitation. Those include larger numbers of species that are collected, their use for making artifacts and not only simple shell beads, and their apparent use in exchange systems whose purpose is to provide food. In addition, more diverse methods are used for working the shells, resulting in such "prestige" items as Mother-of-Pearl pendants. Dozens of shell species are made into beads during this period, especially in the desert areas where Red Sea species are collected. The Mediterranean zone is distinguished by smaller assemblages dominated by Glycymeris and Cerastoderma.
Mollusc shells from archaeological building materials
Katherine Szabó, Catherine Dupont, Vesna Dimitrijevi¢, Luis Gómez Gastélum and Nathalie Serrand, eds., Archaeomalacology: shells in the archaeological record. Oxford: Archaeopress,, 2014
Mollusc shells can enter the fabric of a building through numerous means. They can be ornamental, structural inserts, deliberately broken up as temper for brick and cement, or incidental inclusions in the sedimentary component of mortar, brick or daub. The potential of shell deliberately or accidentally incorporated into building materials to indicate the source of raw materials used in construction is considered. Modern and archaeological examples are given, along with a review of work to date and some recommendations for future research.