Land Snail Shell Beads in the Sub-Saharan Archaeological Record: When, Where, and Why?
Shell beads are well established in the archaeological record of sub-Saharan Africa and appear as early as 75,000 BP; however, most research has focused on ostrich eggshell (OES) and various marine mollusc species. Beads made from various land snails shells (LSS), frequently described as Achatina, a...
| Publicado en: | African Archaeological Review Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 347 - 379 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
Sep2018
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=131517606&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 131517606 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02630338 N6B jtl: African Archaeological Review issn: 02630338 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2018 vid: 35 iid: 3 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 131517606 10.1007/s10437-018-9305-3 ppf: 347 ppct: 32 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 8.2MB tig: atl: Land Snail Shell Beads in the Sub-Saharan Archaeological Record: When, Where, and Why? aug: au: Miller, Jennifer M. Sawchuk, Elizabeth A. Reedman, Amy L. R. Willoughby, Pamela R. affil: Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, USA su: Snail shells Beads Archaeology Snail anatomy Art materials sug: subj: Snail shells Beads Archaeology Snail anatomy Art materials keyword: Achatina Iron Age Land snail Later Stone Age Shell bead ab: Shell beads are well established in the archaeological record of sub-Saharan Africa and appear as early as 75,000 BP; however, most research has focused on ostrich eggshell (OES) and various marine mollusc species. Beads made from various land snails shells (LSS), frequently described as Achatina, also appear to be widespread. Yet tracking their appearance and distribution is difficult because LSS beads are often intentionally or unintentionally lumped with OES beads, there are no directly dated examples, and bead reporting in general is highly variable in the archaeological literature. Nevertheless, Achatina and other potential cases of LSS beads are present at over 80 archaeological sites in at least eight countries, spanning the early Holocene to recent past. Here, we collate published cases and report on several more. We also present a new case from Magubike Rockshelter in southern Tanzania with the first directly dated LSS beads, which we use to illustrate methods for identifying LSS as a raw material. Despite the long history of OES bead production on the continent and the abundance of land snails available throughout the Pleistocene, LSS beads appear only in the late Holocene and are almost exclusively found in Iron Age contexts. We consider possible explanations for the late adoption of land snails as a raw material for beadmaking within the larger context of environmental, economic, and social processes in Holocene Africa. By highlighting the existence of these artifacts, we hope to facilitate more in-depth research on the timing, production, and distribution of LSS beads in African prehistory. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: African Archaeological Review is a copyright of Springer, 2018. All Rights Reserved. item: African Archaeological Review holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2018 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|