The evidence of Spondylus ornamental objects in the central Mediterranean Sea. Two case Studies: Sicily and Malta

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Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Councilof Archaeozoology, Durham, August 2002Series Editors: Keith Dobney, Peter Rowley-Conwy and Umberto Albarella

Edited byDaniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer

ArchaeomalacologyMolluscs in former environmentsof human behaviour

Contents

Preface .............................................................................................................................................................................. vii Keith Dobney, Peter Rowley-Conwy and Umberto Albarella

1. An Introduction to Archaeomalacology ...................................................................................................................... 1Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer

America2. Land snails, artifacts and faunal remains: understanding site formation processes at Prehistoric/

Protohistoric sites in the Southeastern United States .............................................................................................. 6Evan Peacock, Janet Rafferty and S. Homes Hogue

3. Seasonal collection of coquina clams (Donax variabilis Say, 1822) during the Archaicand St. Johns Periods in coastal Northeast Florida ................................................................................................. 18Irvy R. Quitmyer, Dougals S. Jones and C. Fred T. Andrus

4. Pre-Columbian Preceramic shellfish consumption and shell tool production:shell remains from Orient Bay, Saint-Martin, Northern Lesser Antilles .................................................................... 29Nathalie Serrand and Dominique Bonnissent

5. Shell middens on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua:Prehistoric patterns of mollusc collection and consumption .................................................................................. 40Ermengol Gassiot Ballbè

Europe6. Marine mussel shells – wear is the evidence ........................................................................................................... 56

Jan Light

7. The malacofauna of the Upper Paleolithic levels at Grotta della Serratura (Salerno, southern Italy).preliminary data ........................................................................................................................................................ 63André Carlo Colonese and Barbara Wilkens

8. Shells at the Bronze Age settlement of Coppa Nevigata (Apulia, Italy) ................................................................. 71Claudia Minniti

9. The evidence of Spondylus ornamental objects in the central Mediterranean Sea.two case studies: Sicily and Malta ........................................................................................................................... 82Salvatore Chilardi, Lorenzo Guzzardi, Maria Rosa Iovino and Annalisa Rivoli

10. Shells from Prehistoric sites in northern Greece ...................................................................................................... 91Lilian Karali

11. Reconstructing murex Royal Purple and Biblical Blue in the Aegean ..................................................................... 99Deborah Ruscillo

12. Molluscs from a Middle Bronze Age site and two Hellenistic sites in Thessaly, Greece ..................................... 107Wietske Prummel

13. Early preceramic Neolithic marine shells from Shillourokambos, Cyprus (late 9th-8th mill. cal BC):a mainly-ornamental set with similarities to mainland PPNB ................................................................................... 122Nathalie Serrand, Jean-Denis Vigne and Jean Guilaine

Asia14. The mollusc fauna from the Late Bronze and Iron Age strata of Tell Abu Hawam ................................................ 132

Inbar Baruch, Michal Artzy, Joseph Heller, Jacqueline Balensi and Maria D. Herrera

15. Shifts in Epipaleolithic marine shell exploitation at Wadi Mataha, southern Jordan .............................................. 148Joel C. Janetski

16. The use of marine shells at Sumhuram, Oman ......................................................................................................... 159Barbara Wilkens

17. The shell material from Suwayh I (Oman, Neolithic) ................................................................................................ 166Chloé Martin

18. Marine shell utilisation by the Chalcolithic cultures of the Western Deccan region of India ................................ 174Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee

82 Salvatore Chilardi, Lorenzo Guzzardi, Maria Rosa Iovino and Annalisa Rivoli

9. The evidence of Spondylus ornamental objects in thecentral Mediterranean Sea. Two case Studies: Sicily andMalta

Salvatore Chilardi, Lorenzo Guzzardi, Maria Rosa Iovinoand Annalisa Rivoli

9th ICAZ Conference, Durham 2002Archaeomalacology: Molluscs in former environments of human behaviour (ed. Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer) pp. 82–90

Introduction

From the Aegean to the Adriatic Spondylus shells werefished or collected from the Neolithic to the end of theEneolithic. Yet, Séfériadès suggested that “fossilSpondylus like Spondylus crassicrosta…or Spondylustenuispina…were probably used far from the Mediter-ranean coastal region” (2000, 424). The name Spondyluscomes from the Latin word for spines, that are on itsback. We can now add new insights from Sicily andMalta islands to the diffusion of the genus Spondylus(Fig. 1), from the Aegean to the Manica basin, both forsubsistence and ornamental or ritual use.

Sicily and Malta: geography and geology of theislands

Sicily (Fig. 2) boasts c. 1,000 km of coastline, mostlyrocky in the north and sandy in the south. The south-

Today, in Sicily, the presence of Spondylus ornamental objects is only attested from the site of Vulpiglia, a Neolithicsettlement located on the south-eastern coastal plain, where three individual burials were discovered. Among thegifts in the burial of a 20–30 year old female, ten Spondylus shell-beads, were found. In Malta the evidence ofSpondylus ornaments is instead attested only in the later Hal Saflieni phase of the Chalcolithic period.

The goals of our research are: to understand the technical production process of Spondylus objects; to quantifythe distribution of this special raw material among the islands of the Mediterranean, or more specifically in Sicilyand Malta; to describe the context where Spondylus objects were uncovered; to gain information on other finds orother unusual raw materials associated with the Spondylus objects; and to understand the socio-economic or socio-cultural meaning of Spondylus.

Moreover, here it is also considered that detailed knowledge of the faunal content of geological deposit andmainly of isotopic analysis is important in order to determine whether in Sicily and in Malta worked Spondylusshells were collected in a fresh state or fossilised. If the latter hypothesis will be attested, we will try to consider whatrole Sicily and Malta could have had in trading these objects.

Fig. 1. Spondylus gaederopus Linnaeus from Medi-terranean area.

83The evidence of Spondylus ornamental objects in the central Mediterranean Sea

eastern corner, where the Neolithic site of Vulpiglia islocated, includes a series of high plateaus made up oflava, tuff and above all, limestone (Fig. 3). Generally,among the Tertiary successions, the youngest Neogenicdeposit consists of Messinian evaporites and lower Plio-cene chalks (Trubi), but in the vicinity of Pachino edgesof calcirudites with nummulites, dated up to the MiddleEocene, and of carbonate Oligocenic rocks withlepidociclinae (found in Calafarina Cave) are present.Pleistocene raised beach deposits are scattered on coastalareas. The Pleistocene sediments overlying the upperCretaceous volcanics are related to the two differentsedimentary stages of the Milazziano (middle Pleistocene)and of the Tyrrhenian ages (upper Pleistocene) and areconstituted by carbonate sandstone rocks and by a“dendritic-organogenic” plateau. (Stamilla 1998, 96).These sediments were defined by Colacicchi (1963) as“Calciruditi di Portopalo”. In the Pachino and CapoPassero territory, the Cretaceous stage ended, above thevolcanics, by peculiar layers related to a reef environment.In some instances, these last layers are overlapped bydiscontinuous calcarenite edges with Lutetian macro-foraminiferes (Colacicchi 1963).

The lithologic succession of the pre-Quaternary layersis (top to bottom):

1) White, friable and porous calcirudite, dolomitizedwith inner pattern of gastropoda and lamellibranchia;rare orbytoid are attested also.

2) White and compact calcirudite; most clasts are madeby fossil shells with the cement composed of spaticcalcite. Rudiste, orbyolides and miolites are attested.

3) A plateau c. 0.70 m thick with simplorbites and withforaminifera.

4) White and coarse calcirudite, with abundant evidenceof macrofossils.

5) A plateau made almost exclusively by Rudiste, withHippurites cornucopiae, Sabinia aff. aniensis,Mitrocaprina bulgarica.

6) Calcirudite, similar to layer number 4.

The coastline of the closest Ragusa territory to the west,has even more important quaternary deposits, for qualityas well as for quantity. A section of stratigraphicTyrrhenian deposits about 5 m thick is visible in the areaof Sampieri Bay. On the top of these deposits there is alayer with coarse shingles and with abundant deposits ofpoorly-preserved fossil shells. Among this fossil deposit,the genus Glycymeris prevails. In the vicinity of ScoglittiBay (Fig. 4), instead, polygenic conglomerates existcontaining numerous fossils with still-coloured valves ofSpondylus gaederopus (Carbone et al. 1982).

The Maltese Archipelago (Fig. 5) consists of a groupof small islands located in the central Mediterranean,approximately 96 km south of Sicily and 320 km north ofNorth Africa. The largest islands are Malta (length 27km; area 245.7 sq km) and Gozo (14.5 km; 67.1 sq km).The rocks of the Maltese Islands are all sedimentary andresult from the accumulation of carbonate sediments in arelatively shallow marine environment (Hunt andSchembri 1999). These rocks date back only as far as theTertiary. However, there is still some degree of richnessas regards their mineral and the fossil content. Withinthe predominantly limestone rock, there are some alluvial

Fig. 2. Map of Sicily (after Iovino 2000, p. 515).


deposits and conglomerates of ferruginous and siliceousmaterial.The simple stratigraphic succession of rocks in theMaltese Archipelago is:

1) Upper Coralline Limestone – youngest formation andlast deposited.

2) Greensand.3) Blue Clay.4) Globigerina Limestone – with the presence of

fossilized Spondylus shells.

5) Lower Coralline Limestone – oldest formation andfirst deposited.

Spondylus archaeological finds

In Sicily it has been observed that Spondylus shells wereused both for subsistence and ornamental use, whereas inMalta, from the published data, it seems that onlyornamental use is attested. (see p. 85)

Fig. 3. Geological structure of Vulpiglia and vicinity (after Ruggieri 1988, table).


and for a better understanding of such a peculiar context,undoubtedly, a precise radiocarbon dating is needed.Tomb 3 (Fig. 6) contained a skeleton, oriented east–west, lying huddled on its right side. The skeletal remainsare fragmentary, but indicate an adult, probably a female,by analysis of the base of the skull (Guzzardi et al.forthcoming). The funerary objects include a vaseattributed to Serra d’Alto facies, a flint blade, a flake, anobsidian point and a bladelet, and 10 beads for necklacesor bracelets (Fig. 7).

Spondylus ornaments are attested in Malta startingfrom Zebbug until the Tarxien phase. All these objectswere uncovered in funerary contexts. Beads, perforatedbuttons, and the so-called “bird” figurines (Figs 8, 9)were discovered in the Tarxien phase of the Hypogeumat Hal Saflieni, a subterranean structure dug into the softGlobigerina rock. This site is interpreted as a sanctuary,used by prehistoric people to bury their dead. On thelower level, the remains of 6,000 to 7,000 humanskeletons were discovered together with personal orna-ments and pottery (Pace 1996).

A pendant (Fig. 10) with a sinuous shape was alsofound out at the Brochtorff Stone Circle at Xaghra (Gozo).

Subsistence Use Ornamental Use

Megara Hyblea, Sicily (trench LVII–Neolithic) Vulpiglia, Sicily (tomb n. 3–Middle/Final Neolithic)

Stentinello, Sicily (Neolithic) Stone Circle Of Xaghra, Gozo (Zebbug phase)

Lipari, Eolian Islands (Capanna B5–Late Bronze Age) Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, Malta (Tarxien phase)

Fig. 4. Quaternary coastal deposit in the Ragusa district.

Fig. 5. The Maltese archipelago (after Malone 1996, p.32).

Recent excavations in eastern Sicily (Guzzardi 2002),precisely at Vulpiglia, Pachino (Siracusa), show thepresence of ornamental elements in a burial, ascribed bytypological attribution of a vase, to the Middle Neolithic.This chronology, based only on typology, lacks precision


Its shape can be compared to the beads found in one tombfrom the small cemetery of Andolina (Romanie), datedback to the middle-Neolithic phase of Vidra (BoianCulture). Among these beads 24 were made of Spondylusshell (Fig. 11), another six of Dentalium shell (Com�a1973).

Bead analysis from the Vulpiglia burial

The beads show an important characteristic consisting ofa laminar structure (Fig. 12). This structure is a peculiarcharacteristic of the inner layer (endostratum) of bivalveshells (lamellibranchia). The structure and thickness ofthe laminas could imply a relationship with the Spondylusgenus, based on microscopic observation. According tothe authors, these beads were made of pebbles comingfrom fossilised or sub-fossilised sands with shell in-clusions, probably found on the eroded marine esplanade.

Fig. 6. Vulpiglia: Tomb 3 (after Guzzardi et al.forthcoming).

Fig. 7. Vulpiglia: 10 shell beads.

Fig. 8. Malta: beads.

Fig. 9. Malta: perforated button.

Fig. 10. Xaghra (Gozo): pendant (after Pace 1996, p.76).


A secondary deposition of calcium, which increases thethickness of the blank and decreases its hardness, couldbe advantageous for beadmaking. Using fragments offossil shell, the shape of the original blank would havebeen much closer to the idea of the finished product.

Characteristics of the beads

The shape of these beads is nearly oval and very closelystandardised. There are both larger and smaller beads.Six beads have a diameter c. 1 cm, whereas four have adiameter c. 0.8 cm. The diameter of the hole is always c.0.2 cm. The weight of the largest beads vary from aminimum of 1.08 gr to a maximum of 1.62 gr. Thesmallest beads weigh between 0.45 and 0.67 gr. Themean density of these beads is c. 2.96 gr/cu cm.

Bead-making technology

With the help of a stereomicroscope, the followingcharacteristics have been observed:

1. The beads’ edges are not highly abraded, perhapsdue to the lack of need to knap the edge of the clam.This supports the hypothesis of the use of fossilisedraw material.

2. The beads show a flatter edge surface around thehole location (Fig. 13). The surface was ground andflattened before making the hole, in order to facilitatedrilling.

3. The hole has been made in two steps, the first on oneside and then, symmetrically, on the other. Theresulting perforation is thus biconical. Inside thehole, more or less in the middle, is a narrow step isusually present attesting to this operation.

4. It has been observed that the location of the hole isalways in the narrow part of the beads. Perhaps anapplication of the least effort to reach the desiredresult?

5. From comparisons with our experimental activity itseems probable that a stone drill was used in order tomake the holes. The use of a hand-held drill iseffective enough and perforates quickly with theaddition of water during the hole-making procedure.The hole was made in 15 minutes of rotary motions.The microscopic observation of the hole of thearchaeological beads (Fig. 14) can be compared tothe one we produced on the experimental bead (Fig.15).

Comparisons

An interesting comparison concerning the Vulpigliabeads, comes from the settlement of Polgár-Csöszhalom-dülö 6 in Hungary (Choyke 2001). In a Neolithic cemeterycontaining 120 graves dating to the fifth millennium BCTisza culture, nine graves were uncovered with ornamentsmade of the upper canines of deer, or imitations of thesein bone or Spondylus shell (Fig. 16). The imitations weremore common in the female burials. Imitations of deercanines in shell are also found in other Hungarian sitesand in the Cerny region of France (Sidéra 1997). Otherimitations of deer canines of bone are known in Bulgaria,Serbia, Ukraine, Israel and Sweden. All the knownexamples come from funerary contexts. It is possible thatsuch ornaments were created especially for funerary ritesand that they had a symbolic and perhaps social value.Imitations of deer canines display a progression from aform represented by small beads with both ends roundedand a central perforation, to a form with only one roundedend, pierced at the opposite extremity, more similar tothe original teeth. The beads found at Vulpiglia resemblethis second type closely. We would also like to emphasizethat at Uzzo Cave, from the ancient Neolithic trench (F),

Fig. 11. Andolina (Romania): Spondylus shell ornaments(after Com��

Fig. 12. Laminar structure of a supposed Spondylus shellbead from Vulpiglia (Pachino, SR).


4 bored canines of Cervus elaphus were detected (Fig.17). Even if their relationship to a funerary context isuncertain, it seems that this tradition related to the deercanine ornaments in Sicily can be traced back to an earlierstage.

Discussion

The finds from Sicily and Malta are the southernmostexamples for the production of Spondylus ornaments.This fact is probably due to the history of research, andit is important to point out that Spondylus objects can beexchanged/confused with bone, as is evident from thefirst interpretation of Vulpiglia beads.

We have yet to determine by geochemical analysis theexact provenience of the raw material, even if the use oflocal raw material was possible. The geological back-ground of both islands makes this task difficult. TheSpondylus objects found in the prehistoric sites indicatetwo different kinds of status: one for the fossilized andthe other for the recent ones. Today it is known that therecent shells, mainly widespread in the Aegean area, aredefined as Spondylus gaederopus.

Spondylus gaederopus is derived from Spondylusferreolensis (= concentricus) and this latter is derivedfrom Spondylus radula (Zavarei 1973). There are never-theless many species of fossil Spondylus (Spondylusgaederopus in the Mediterranean basin, such as: S.crassicosta in Bretagna-Loira-valle du Rhone; S.tenuispina in the Mayence Basin, and other types,widespread in Central Europe.

The identification of the shell has been made mostlyby visual analysis, considering the difficulties in analysisof the archaeological findings through measurement ofisotopic composition. The danger in visual analysis ofartefacts, is that it can lead to contradictory conclusionsregarding the nature of the source material, since the

Fig. 13. Flat edge surface of supposed Spondylus shellbeads from Vulpiglia (Pachino, SR).

Fig. 14. Vulpiglia shell bead: stereomicroscopic observ-ation of bead’s hole.

Fig. 15. Stereomicroscopic observation of an experimentalbead made by fossil Spondylus shell.

Fig. 16. Polgar-Hungary: imitation of red deer caninebeads (after Choyke 2001, p. 263).

Fig. 17. Uzzo Cave (Trapani, Sicily): red deer caninebeads from Neolithic layers (after Tusa 1997, p. 29).


surface of Spondylus artefacts can be highly polished oreroded (Shackleton and Elderfield 1990). Isotopicanalysis can solve the question about the origin ofSpondylus, but until now the attitude is that “ces objectrares son trop précieux pour subir une ablation, mêmeréduit” (Taborin 1974, 317).

The isotopic composition of carbonatic oxygen (d 18O)is a good estimator of the variation of temperature and ofsalinity of the sea water, as well as a good indicator todetermine the provenience of Spondylus (Séfériadès 1995,291–358). To determine the age of the shell a strontiumisotopic composition measurement is used.

The presence of Spondylus fossils is known both inthe stratigraphy of Malta and in the Sicily Pleistocenedeposits. In prehistoric Malta, Globigerina rock was dugto build the hypogeum and temples. It can be imaginedthat plenty of fossil Spondylus were found in order tomake ornamental and ritual objects.

Further developments of this research using isotopicanalysis will help to identify better the status and type ofSpondylus and give a throrough understanding of therole in a possible Spondylus trade from Malta and Sicily(Fig. 18).

AcknowledgementsWe are very grateful to Dr. J. Robb, who first observedthat the beads from T.3 could be made of shells insteadof bone as a raw material. Special thanks to theSoprintendenza ai Beni Culturali ed Ambientali diSiracusa for providing access to analyse the 10 shellbeads.

Photos n. 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15: Iovino M.R.

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Salvatore ChilardiSoprintendenza BB.CC.AA. di SiracusaPiazza Duomo 496100 SiracusaE-mail: [email protected]

Lorenzo GuzzardiMuseo Archeologico di CamarinaCasella Postale 60Scoglitti (Ragusa)E-mail: [email protected]

Maria Rosa IovinoCentro Internazionale di Sperimentazionedi Documentazione e di Studio per laPreistoria e l’Etnografia dei Popoli PrimitiviVia S. Zenobia 10Casella Postale 14796100 SiracusaE-mail: [email protected]

Annalisa RivoliCentro Internazionale di Sperimentazionedi Documentazione e di Studio per laPreistoria e l’Etnografia dei Popoli PrimitiviVia S. Zenobia 10Casella Postale 14796100 SiracusaE-mail: [email protected] (responding author)

The evidence of Spondylus ornamental objects in the central Mediterranean Sea. Two case Studies: Sicily and Malta

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