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THE ARCHAEO+MALACOLOGY GROUP NEWSLETTER Issue
Number 3, January 2003 Coordinator: Janet Ridout Sharpe, BSc ARCS 66 Radnor Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 0PH, UK email:
j.ridout-sharpe@cabi.org
Editorial Please note the Newsletter's change of name. After some deliberation, this
was finally brought about by the recent proposals for a new Archaeomalacology
Working Group within the umbrella of the International Council for
Archaeozoology, prompted by the success of the special Archaeomalacology session
held at the ICAZ Conference at Durham, UK, in August 2002. If you can't beat
'em, join 'em! A brief overview of the ICAZ session and the mission statement of
the new Working Group are included in this issue. Thanks
are due to everyone who provided copy for this Newsletter - please do keep those
short articles, reports, news items, reviews and lists of publications coming in
and, who knows, it may become possible to produce the Newsletter more
frequently. Also, please don't forget to let the coordinator know if you change
your email address, or would like your name to be removed from the mailing list.
New
Group Members Alberto
GIROD: fraberto.girod@libero.it Independent
malacologist specialising in land and freshwater snails, their
palaeo-environmental significance and changes during the Holocene, mainly
between the Mesolithic and Neolithic and Bronze Ages; areas of interest include
Italy, the Sahara, Turkey, Syria and the Arabian Peninsula; Consultant for
several Italian institutes for archaeology and geology, museums, and government
departments concerned with archaeological surveys. Gustaf
MAMANGKEY: gustaffnm@lycos.com Working
for the Tropical Marine Mollusc Programme at Sam Ratulangi University, Manado,
Indonesia; has conducted research on the Teredinidae of North Sulawesi and the
Indo-West Pacific; interested in the archaeomalacology of Indonesia. Yves-Marie
PAULET: Yves-Marie.Paulet@univ-brest.fr Marine biologist at the European Institute for Marine Studies, Brest, France; working on the ecology and ecophysiology of marine bivalves; reconstruction of palaeoclimates from shells based on daily calcitic increments, stable isotopes and trace elements, with promising results using scallops from a Neolithic site in Brittany; special interest in creating a European inventory of Pecten maximus from archaeological sites for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction - please get in touch with Yves-Marie if you would like to be involved in this project; ancient use of marine resources.
On
the practicalities of shell analysis Daniella
E. Bar-Yosef Mayer Peabody
Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA When
I was first faced with the analysis of 5000 shells from an archaeological site,
I was overwhelmed by the fact that they had to be studied both from zoological
and archaeological aspects. I realised that the very first stage would have to
be the description of the material. This would be followed by dividing the
described material into groups, based on genera and species, but also on
artefactual typology as well as stratigraphic and contextual information. Here,
I would like to discuss the first step of the description component of the
analysis. The
zoological aspect is first and foremost the identification of the species, and
following that any other observations, such as whether it is an adult or
juvenile specimen, and whether it has been perforated by a gastropod, etc.
Identifying the species of the mollusc will determine its origin (aquatic or
terrestrial) and in the Near East this can be rather dramatic, as it usually
means either the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, which are only about 200 km apart
(as the crow flies). Other species originating in freshwater, such as the River
Nile, also have important archaeological implications. The
archaeological aspect entails evidence for human and natural manipulation of the
shell: whether it was collected as a live animal or as an abraded shell on the
beach; whether it was worked into a bead or any other kind of artefact; what
techniques were used for the modification (drilling, grinding, etc.). There are
also other observations that may be significant, for instance, whether the shell
is burnt, covered with ochre, etc. Writing
this detailed description for each of the 5000 shells seemed like an impossible
task. I therefore devised a typological list that addresses all of these
questions, and enabled entering the information into any database software. I
may add here that the idea of a 'type-list' comes from my strong background in
prehistoric archaeology where a type-list is one of the leading tools for lithic
analysis. However, since the type-list will have to include so much information,
each type consists of four digits. The idea for numbering each type came from my
very shallow background in computer programming, where in BASIC one would give a
number to each command, and leave some extra numbers in between for future
commands should they be needed. The
following is part of the type-list I use. This particular type-list is suitable
for studying materials from the Near East, as it includes the genera most
commonly found in archaeological sites there. The genera are arranged in
taxonomic order, which follows that published by Vaught (1989). Since most
species in the same genus have the same archaeological features (i.e. they are
worked in the same way) they are not distinguished in the type-list, although
species are recorded in a separate column on the database. 1640
- Mitrella 1650
- Nassarius
complete 1651
-
fragment 1652
-
broken 1655
-
worked: dorsum ground; columella exposed 1656
-
worked: dorsum ground; broken 1657
-
worked: hole in body whorl 1658
-
1657 + eroded apex 1659
-
hole near aperture 1660
- Cyclope
complete 1661
-
fragment 1662
-
broken 1665
-
hole perforated Each
genus is assigned a four-digit number that ends with zero. Zero stands for a
complete shell. The following number, which ends with one, represents the same
genus but a fragment thereof, where a fragment is defined as a part of the shell
where less than half is present. The next number, which ends with two, stands
for a broken shell, one that is incomplete but more than half is present. The
following number, which ends with three, is there for a heavily naturally
abraded specimen, such as a 'cassid lip' of the genus Phalium (see Reese 1989). The
succeeding numbers, which end with five to nine, are for artificially worked
shells. Additional observations are given a letter. For instance, a burned shell
will get 'f' (for fire) and thus a Nassarius
gibbosulus burnt bead will be 1655f. Another Nassarius
gibbosulus bead that has colour pigment on it will be 1655c. This
is true for gastropods, all of which start with 1000. Bivalves follow the same
principle in my list, but they start with 2000. One should note, though, that
'fragment' and 'broken' refer to a valve and not to a complete shell. For
example: 2250
- Glycymeris
complete 2251
-
fragment 2252
-
broken 2253
-
abraded all around 2254
-
natural hole at apex 2255
-
ground hole at apex Right
and left valves are counted to
determine the minimum number of individuals when relevant, especially when
dealing with shell middens, but when bivalves were used as individual shells
each valve is counted separately on the assumption that this is how the
population that used them viewed them. The
advantage of using this system is that it enables you to enter the relevant data
of an assemblage into a database programme fairly quickly. Once the list is
complete it is possible to sort the shells by taxonomic order (the order in
which I think it should be published, rather than alphabetically or
quantitatively). Unidentifiable fragments are designated 1991 and 2991 for
gastropods and bivalves, respectively. A database software that has filters will
enable further sorting by any category based on these numbers and letters. When
summarising the information for a report, you do have to verbally describe (in
as much detail as possible) the assemblage, but for the process of analysis in
the laboratory, this method can speed up your work. References Reese, D. S., 1989. On cassid lips and helmet shells. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 275: 33-39. Vaught, K. C., 1989. A
classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists, Melbourne,
Florida.
Land
snail survey in southwest Turkey Aydin
Orstan (Aydin.Orstan@cfsan.fda.gov) A
land snail survey of the Bodrum Peninsula in southwestern Turkey took place in
August 2002. Members of the expedition were Aydin Orstan (Carnegie Museum of
Natural History, Pittsburgh, USA), Francisco Welter-Schultes (Zoologisches
Institut, Goettingen, Germany), and Burcin Gumus and Zeki Yildirim (both of
Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey). During the eight-day survey we
collected at about sixty stations over a roughly 30 x 10 km area. Despite the
mountainous terrain, humans have heavily occupied the Bodrum Peninsula for
thousands of years. Hence, several of our stations were at ancient ruins. Some
of these were the remnants of remote unidentified buildings, while others were
well-known locations, including the famous Mausoleum in Bodrum (ancient
Halicarnassus). In addition, we collected at many cliffs located at steep
hilltops approachable either through thorny bushes or over the footprints of
goats. We
collected about forty species, including two or three first records for Turkey
and possibly one undescribed species. The comparison of the land snail species
found at ruins with those from more natural areas will help us determine the
native land snail fauna of the survey area. For example, Caracollina
lenticulata was present only at ruins; a strong indication that it is an
introduced species. In contrast, the large Levantina
spiriplana, frequently found in less disturbed locations, is probably native
to the area. A
full report of the survey is in preparation.
ICAZ
Durham 2002: Archaeo-Malacology The
International Council for Archaeozoology Conference held at Durham, UK, in
August 2002 included a special one-day session on Archaeomalacology, organised
by Daniella Bar-Yosef. Eighteen high-quality papers and one poster were
presented, and the session was rounded off with a General Discussion. The
twenty-minute papers covered topics as diverse as diet and palaeoenvironmental
reconstructions to symbolism of shell amulets. The
morning session was chaired by Cornelia Becker and began with a presentation by
Irvy Quitmyer (coauthored by Douglas S. Jones and C. Fred T. Andrus) on Seasonal shell growth and oxygen isotopes in the variable coquina clam, Donax
variabilis Say, 1822: a modern analogue to determine the season of resource
procurement during the Late Archaic period of coastal northeast Florida, USA.
Nathalie Serrand (coauthor D. Bonnissent) followed with a talk on The Preceramic Orient Bay site's shell remains (Saint-Martin, northern
Lesser Antilles): consumption and production - preliminary results. Next,
Ermengol Gassiot Ballbe spoke about Shell
middens on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua: prehistoric patterns of mollusc
collecting and consumption, and Nicky Milner talked about
Looking for human over-exploitation and environmental change in prehistoric
oysters. After
coffee, Jan Light presented the results of her work on Mytilus
shells from a Romano-British site in Cornwall, UK, entitled Marine
mussels - wear is the evidence. Barbara Wilkens (coauthor Andre Colonese)
talked about The exploitation of molluscs in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene
of Italy, and this Mediterranean theme was continued by Annalisa Rivoli
(coauthors S. Chilardi, L. Guzzardi and M. R. Iovino) on The
evidence of Spondylus ornamental objects in the Central Mediterranean Sea: two
cases of study - Sicily and Malta, Nathalie Serrand (coauthor J. D. Vigne)
on Marine shells from the early
Preceramic Neolithic of Cyprus at Shillourokambos (9th-8th millennium BC): a
mainly ornamental set with similarities to the mainland PPNB, and Liliane
Karali on Shells from prehistoric sites
of northern Greece. Lunch
marked the half-way point and the afternoon session was chaired by Irvy
Quitmyer. The scene remained set in the Mediterranean as Deborah Ruscillo
presented To dye for: reconstructing
Murex Royal Purple and Biblical Blue, Cornelia Becker talked On the divergent exploitation of marine resources in two Bronze Age
Mediterranean sites, Wietske Prummel spoke about Marine and terrestrial molluscs from Neolithic, Bronze Age and
Hellenistic sites in the Almiros and Sourpi plains, Thessaly, Greece, and
Inbar Baruch (coauthors Michal Artzy, Joseph Heller, Jacqueline Balensi and D.
Herrera) discussed their work on the
Molluscan fauna from Late Bronze and Iron Age strata at Tell Abu Hawam in
northern Israel. After
tea the geographical boundaries widened to include Chloe Martin's Study of a shell midden in the Sultanate of Oman: the excavation of
Suwayh 1, Joel Janetski on Shifts in
Epipalaeolithic marine shell exploitation at Wadi Mataha, southern Jordan,
Daniella Bar-Yosef's From statue
decoration to floor foundation: the role of Glycymeris
in the Levant, Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee on the Exploitation of marine molluscan resources during the Holocene in India,
and Evan Peacock and Janet Rafferty's Using land snails to understand site formation processes: an example
from the southeastern United States. Last but not least, Claudia Minitti
presented a poster on Shells at the
Bronze Age settlement of Coppa Nevigata, Apulia, Italy. The
proceedings of the ICAZ Conference, including the papers from the session on
Archaeomalacology, will be published as a series of ten volumes by Oxbow Books
of Oxford, UK, in 2003.
ICAZ
Archaeomalacology Working Group At
the ICAZ Conference in Durham, preliminary steps were taken to form a special
Archaeomalacology Working Group, subject to approval by ICAZ. The formation of
the Group is being coordinated by Irvy Quitmyer and Katherine Szabo, who have
prepared the following mission statement: There
are over 100,000 living species of molluscs, many of which have been important
to humans. The use of members of the phylum Mollusca has been documented in
archaeological sites as early as the Middle Palaeolithic. It has long been
recognised that mollusc shells are an important zooarchaeological tool for
interpreting various aspects of material culture, palaeoeconomy and the
environment. Shells originating in marine, freshwater and terrestrial
environments are found in archaeological sites where they represent subsistence
resources and raw materials for the manufacture of a diverse group of artefacts.
Cross-culturally, molluscs were collected as or made into artefacts, exchange
items, grave goods, etc. with various symbolic meanings attached to them.
Mollusc exploitation is also manifested in the use of certain species for the
production of dye and construction materials. Further, mollusc shells are often
used to reconstruct the season of site occupation, as well as interpreting
palaeoclimates, using isotopic and other methods. Presently,
the ICAZ does not have a working group that deals with molluscs in
archaeological sites. We propose to form the ICAZ Archaeomalacology Working
Group whose mission is the liberal exchange of data and information about the
phylum Mollusca in the zooarchaeological record. It is our goal to focus our
activities on molluscs in the zooarchaeological record and to contribute to the
methods and theory relevant to the analysis of such remains. In so doing, we
seek to encourage the publication of data and information concerning the use of
this very important group of animals commonly found in archaeological sites. Twenty
ICAZ members have already committed to the formation of this Working Group and a
further twenty-two have expressed a desire to participate in the Group. Fourteen
of these names are also on the mailing list for the Archaeo+Malacology Group
Newsletter and it may be possible in the future for these groups to liaise.
Proceedings
from Nebraska Information
provided by Henk Mienis The
Nebraska Association of Professional Archaeologists and the Nebraska State
Historical Society have published the proceedings of two symposia devoted to
shells (particularly freshwater mussels) and archaeology: Marine
shell ornaments from the Plains, Central
Plains Archaeology 5 (1): 107 pp. (1997) contains seven papers; Freshwater
mussels in the Great Plains: ecology and prehistoric utilization,
Central Plains Archaeology 8 (1): 150
pp. (2000) contains thirteen papers. These
publications are available from Karin Roberts, NAPA Secretary-Treasurer, Midwest
Archeological Center, 100 Centennial Mall North, Room 474, Lincoln, NE 68508,
USA (Karin_Roberts@nps.gov), at US$9.00 each. Please add US$1.00 for postage
within the USA or US$15.00 for postage outside the USA.
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