Reviews: Szabó, Dupont, Dimitrijević, Gastélum, Serrand (eds.), Archaeomalacology: Shells in the Archaeological Record. AND Mǎrgǎrit, le Dosseur, Averbouh (eds.), An overview of the exploitation of hard animal materials during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic. (original) (raw)
Related papers
The rolemarine resources played in the subsistence strategies of groups, especially during the Palaeolithic, has been widely discussed in historiography. Much of this debate has been based on the information obtained from the consumption of marine resources as food and, to a lesser extent, their use as objects of adornment. This article presents a new approach to this debate, covering a long period from the Early Upper Palaeolithic to the late Neolithic, across a section of the Atlantic fac¸ade of Western Europe. The novelty of the present research is the application of a technological perspective to study these resources, which have been examined using a use-wear analysis methodology. This research documents the use of shell tools in archaeological sites of all time periods analyzed. These uses would be related to the processing of a variety of materials such as wood, non-woody plant, clay, ochre, and skin during the development of some of the production activities of these groups. This has enabled the addition of new information and an innovative approach to this topic.
Do not mix up apples and oranges! A concept applied to shells from the Mesolithic
Sea-shells are both composed of an animal or the flesh, and of a skeleton, the shell. This diversity is crucial for maritime human communities because, for them, mollusks represent sometimes food or raw material. French examples from Prehistory to nowadays demonstrate that the recycling of a shelly skeleton from an animal that had been eaten is not a systematic behavior. Since the Mesolithic the collecting of shells can correspond to different activities depending on whether Man is looking for food or raw material. This distinction can have a signification in the symbolic point of view. So, shells that are never seen alive by Man can compose personal ornaments. But this dichotomous behavior is not only restricted to our Prehistory. It is what we want to illustrate with French examples through the diversity of uses of marine shells highlight thanks to the development of archaeomalacological studies.
Dupont C., 2014 – « Do not mix up apples and oranges! A concept applied to shells from the Mesolithic. » In J.J. Cantillo, D. Bernal, J. Ramos (eds.), Moluscos y púrpura en contextos arqueológicos atlántico-mediterráneos: nuevos datos y reflexiones en clave de proceso histórico: actas de la III reunión científica de arqueomalacología de la Península Ibérica, celebrada en Cádiz los días 3 y 4 de diciembre de 2012, Cádiz: Universidad de Cádiz, Servicio de Publicaciones, ISBN: 978-84-9828-475-1, 41-50. Abstract Sea-shells are both composed of an animal or the flesh, and of a skeleton, the shell. This diversity is crucial for maritime human communities because, for them, mollusks represent sometimes food or raw material. French examples from Prehistory to nowadays demonstrate that the recycling of a shelly skeleton from an animal that had been eaten is not a systematic behavior. Since the Mesolithic the collecting of shells can correspond to different activities depending on whether Man is looking for food or raw material. This distinction can have a signification in the symbolic point of view. So, shells that are never seen alive by Man can compose personal ornaments. But this dichotomous behavior is not only restricted to our Prehistory. It is what we want to illustrate with French examples through the diversity of uses of marine shells highlight thanks to the development of archaeomalacological studies. Résume Les coquillages sont composés à la fois de l'animal ou la chair, et d'un squelette, la coquille. Cette diversité s'avère cruciale pour les communautés humaines maritimes, les mollusques représentant parfois un aliment ou une matière première. Des exemples français de la préhistoire à nos jours montrent que le recyclage de la coquille d'un mollusque mangé n'est pas une attitude systématique. Depuis le Mésolithique, la collecte des coquillages correspond à des activités bien différenciées selon que l'Homme recherche la nourriture ou la matière première. Cette distinction peut avoir une signification du point de vue de la symbolique de ces sociétés. Ainsi, des coquillages qui n'ont jamais été vus en vie par l'Homme composent des parures personnelles. Mais cette attitude dichotomique ne se réduit pas à la Préhistoire. C'est ce que nous illustrons dans cet article à partir d'exemples français de part la diversité des utilisations faites des coquilles et coquillages soulignée grâce au développement des études archéomalacologiques.
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.
Peer Community Journal, 2022
Personal ornaments manufactured on marine and fossil shell are a significant element of Upper Palaeolithic symbolic material culture, and are often found at considerable distances from Pleistocene coastlines or relevant fossil deposits. Here, we report on a significant collection of shell objects (n=377) from the Upper Magdalenian site of Rochereil (Dordogne, France). Despite the location of the site at more than 200km from the Pleistocene coast, the majority of the shells recovered here are unmodified, suggesting that transport and accumulation of shell raw material was an important component in the production of symbolic technologies some 16 15,000 years ago. A detailed comparative and microscopic reanalysis of this assemblage explores which species were selected, examines technological and taphonomic modification of the material, and compares this collection with the use of similar shell ornaments in the wider Magdalenian world.