Shells at Death – The Use of Shells in Neolithic Mortuary Contexts

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Culturing the Body: Prehistoric Perspectives on Identity and Sociality" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Shells constituted a cultural resource for human groups throughout history. As such, they were used and incorporated in different aspects of life – and death. In this study we examine the use of shells in mortuary contexts, focusing on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) cultic/mortuary site of Kfar HaHoresh. Architectural elements, material culture and mortuary practices change through the Early, Middle and Late PPNB sequence found at the site, reflecting changing cultural behaviors, norms and beliefs.

A large molluscan assemblage (>3,200 shells), including marine, freshwater and land-snail shells, was found in different contexts at the site. Here we focus on marine shells from mortuary contexts. They are all of Mediterranean origin, dominated by bivalves. A small fraction of them are worked, perforated, or otherwise manipulated to function as beads and pendants. Different use-trends, including the choice of taxa, intentional manipulation of the shell, and possible use-traces, are examined. These trends are compared between interred individuals, burial types, and PPNB phases, in order to highlight different aspects of the cultural use of shells, as part of evolving Neolithic mortuary practices.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Culturing the Body: Prehistoric Perspectives on Identity and Sociality

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23058