Dear Henk and listers,

Thanks for piping up, and congratulations on the fine and provocative
report. I was particularly pleased to learn about the temporal
contrast between human use of the money cowrie and the "Nassarius
Periods" you discuss.

To all: here is a short piece on archaeoconchology from a much later
but still prehistoric, in the strict sense, period here in the USA:
<http://www.jaxshells.org/arko.htm>.

Harry


At 05:53 AM 7/17/2006, you wrote:
>Dear Richard,
>
>I've received your letter concerning the "Oldest Shell Beads" already
>several times but it seems that you never got my answer. Since I'm one of
>the six authors, who wrote the original article (Middle Paleolithic Shell
>Beads in Israel and Algeria. Science, 312: 1785-1788 + additional
>information - 3 pages - of supporting material Online) and not of the
>numerous brief stories, which appeared in newspapers all over the world, I
>will give some personal comments.
>
>
>
>I doubt whether you have read the complete story. The finds of beads of
>Nassarius gibbosulus in the Ahmarian layers of Ucagizli, Turkey, were dated
>to ~40 ka i.e. 40.000 years B(efore)P(resent), see Kuhn et al. 2001. Proc
>Nat. Acad. Sci., 98: 7641. The 41 beads made of shells all belonging to
>Nassarius kraussianus and found in the Blombos Cave in South Africa turned
>out to be 75ka old.
>
>The two shell beads from Skhul were found in layers which were dated
>100-135ka. In order to be at the sure side we wrote that the beads are
>100.000 years old (but we don't rule out that they may be even 135.000 years
>old!).
>
>
>
>The age of the shells from Skhul agree exactly with that of the so-called
>Tyrrhenian period of the Mediterranean. This was not a cold glacial period
>but the last, warm interglacial period, which lasted between about 135-90 ka
>BP. That period was warmer then the current situation in the Mediterranean
>Sea, and allowed such species as Strombus bubonius (now Lentigo latus) to
>live in the Mediterranean. The latter is even used as an index fossil for
>the Tyrrhenian stage. Today it is confined in its distribution to West
>Africa. However, most of the Tyrrhenian species are still living in the
>Mediterranean Sea, although sometimes you can find some minor changes in
>form and size. For example the heavier development of the parietal callous
>in Nassarius gibbosulus, which is indeed secreted by a part of the mantle,
>increased the width of Tyrrhenian specimens compared to recent ones. This
>callous is also usually covering the top of the shell in Tyyrhenian ones and
>never in recent ones (however it does so in the closely related
>Mediterranean Nassarius circumcinctus).
>
>During the Tyrrhenian stage Cowries were living in the Mediterranean Sea and
>were available to the people of Skhul, however, no shell beads made from
>Cowries have been found during the excavation of Skhul.
>
>I don't think that Nassarius, whether gibbosulus or kraussianus, can be
>considered as merely local substitutes for Cypraea moneta. The massive
>exploitation of Cypraea moneta (and Cypraea annulus) took place at a much
>later stage in modern human history. However, in the Levant local species of
>Cowries have been used as shell beads since the Epipalaeolithic period
>(23-14.5 ka BP see Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2005. Paleorient, 31: 176-185, and
>references in it).
>
>
>
>Henk K. Mienis
>
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Harry G. Lee, M. D.
4132 Ortega Forest Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32210 USA
voice (904) 389 4049
email: [log in to unmask]
look at www.jaxshells.org

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