Dear Richard and other interested ConchLers,

You asked about the Cowries found at Epipaleothic sites. At the moment I can
report only about two sites I've studied myself. Both sites: Rosh Horesha
and Abu Salem are located in the center of the Negev desert, Israel.

Rosh Horesha yielded among others only one fragment of Cypraea erosa
nebrites, a Red Sea species, and five additional, tiny fragments of cowries
which could not be identified at species level. Noteworthy was the fact that
15 shell beads made of Nassarius gibbosulus were also present.

Abu Salem yielded:
four fragments of Cypraea arabica grayana, a Red Sea subspecies;
one shell bead made of Cypraea caputserpentis, most probably from the Indian
Ocean, since it has never been reported from the Red Sea;
one shell bead made from Cypraea erosa erosa, likewise most probably from
the Indian oCean;
two shell beads made from Cypraea erosa nebrites from the Red Sea;
one fragment of Cypraea isabella from the Red Sea;
one shell bead made from Cypraea spurca, a Mediterranean species;
and seven unrecognizable fragments.
At this side too 10 shell beads of Nassarius gibbosulus were found.
All this was reported in:
Mienis, H.K., 1977. Marine molluscs from the Epipaleolithic Natufian and
Harifian of the Har Harif, Central Negev, Israel. In A.E. Marks (Ed.):
Prehistory and paleoenvironments in the Central Negev, Israel. Volume II The
Avdat/Aqev area, part 2 and the Har Harif, 347-353. Dept. Anthropology,
Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University,
Dallas.
Of other Epipaleolithic sites I don't have the literature at hand at my
home.
So neither Cypraea moneta nor C. annulus were present. By the way both are
rarely encountered in the northern part of the Red Sea inclusive the Gulfs
of Aqaba and Suez. More to the south they are becoming more common, but
nowhere they are really abundant in the Red Sea.

With best regards,

Henk K. Mienis

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