Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

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ALFREDO CARANNANTE
Other common shells were also used as pendants
and beads in Pyrgos. Holed shells of
Barbatia barbata - a single valve holed by percussion-,
Glycymeris insubrica - three drilled valves -,
Cerastoderma glaucum - two valves holed by percussion
- a single Columbella rustica and a single
Luria lurida with two holes that suggest its use as
a bead, were discovered in addition to the above
mentioned murex shells.
The ornamental use of such species is attested
also in other Cypriot Bronze Age sites as Kition
(one Cerastoderma, three Glycymeris), Hala
Sultan Tekké (two Cerastoderma, six Columbella),
Kalopsidha (some Cerastoderma in Early Cypriot
tombs), Kourion-Bamboula (one Glycymeris in a
Bronze Age tomb), Palaepaphos-Teratsoudhia
(two Glycymeris), Maa-Palaeokastro (some
Glycymeris) (Reese 1985, 1988), Marki-Alonia (two
Cerastoderma) (Frenkel and Webb 1994: 215) and
Sotira-Kaminoudhia (two Glycymeris, one
Barbatia) (Reese 2003). Two Conus sp. fragments
were also found at Pyrgos-Mavroraki.
7. UNPERFORATED ORNAMENTAL SHELLS
The mere ornamental use is more difficult to
uphold when not edible species unholed shells are
found in archaeological contexts.
Three Erosaria spurca specimens, three Luria
lurida and three fragments of other unidentifiable
cowries were found in Pyrgos-Mavroraki. Five of
them were certainly from unholed shells and just
one of them has two holes as mentioned above.
Cowrie shells without natural or artificial holes
have been found also in other contemporary
Cypriot sites. Four of the seven cowries found in
the Bronze Age levels of Kition were not holed
(Reese 1985) and two unholed Erosaria were
found at Maa-Palaeokastro (Reese 1988).
Unworked cowrie shells are attested also outside
the island. They have been found in Minoan sites
as Myrtos (Shackleton 1972: 324) and Kommos (18
unholed shells) (Reese 1995), at Ayios Mamas in
the Chalcidice Peninsula (Greece) (Becker 1996)
and in several Near Eastern sites (see: Bar-Yosef
Mayer 2000, Reese 1991, among others).
Other unperforated shells of inedible species
have been found in Pyrgos: two Buccinulum corneum
specimens, two Columbella rustica and a single
Fasciolaria lignaria. Comparable data are reported
in one only Cypriot Bronze Age site, Maa-
Palaeokastro where four unholed Buccinulum specimens
and a single unholed Columbella were found
(Reese 1988). In contrast, a special value seems to
be connected with the unperforated shells of
Buccinulum, Columbella and Fasciolaria in the
Minoan world. Indeed, unperforated shells of these
species are diffusely attested in Cretan Bronze Age
sites and on Thera island (see: Reese 1995, among
others). At some Minoan sites a peculiar interest in
these unholed shells is evident. Only few of the 75
Columbella specimens and of the Buccinulum specimens
found in the Minoan peak sanctuary of
Mount Youktas were holed (Reese 1995). A similar
situation is attested in the Minoan site of Kommos
where only 8 of the 59 Buccinulum shells were holed,
only 3 of the 30 Columbella shells were holed and
none of the three Fasciolaria shells were holed
(Reese 1995). Comparable data are reported from
other Cretan sites as Pseira, Mochlos (Reese et al.
2004) and Monastiraki (Carannante 2006).
The unperforated shells of inedible species are
generally interpreted as shells waiting to be manufactured,
or as gaming pieces, or as votive depositions;
more correctly Becker (1996: 14) renounces
defining their function and counts this kind of
remains as “objets énigmatiques”. Indeed, it is
impossible to propose a functional classification
for them. We can evoke symbolic, apotropaic or
merely aesthetical functions, however such splitting
reflects only the pedantic need for classification
of the modern scholar; it does not help us to
understand the complex overlapping of the
symbolic, apotropaic and aesthetic values that are
often inseparable in the human mind. However, the
imperforated shells of Pyrgos-Mavroraki come
from different areas of the complex, rather than
being accumulated in the same place. Therefore
they were not waiting to be manufactured.
8. CASSID LIPS
Ten Phalium undulatum remains have been
found in Pyrgos. Six of them are external lips
sawed off from the shell to obtain a crescent (Fig.
5). D.S. Reese dedicated a detailed paper (Reese
1989) to this kind of remains, which he called
“Cassid lips” or “Phalium lips”.
A Phalium shell whose external lip was sawed
off was also found in Pyrgos. This datum demonstrates
that the “Cassid lips” were produced directly
on the site.
“Cassid lips” were probably suspended as pendants
and are a common find particularly in Near
Eastern sites. They have been often found in sanctuaries,
in tombs or in votive contexts (Reese 1989: 38).
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián