Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

170
RUTH MAICAS & AIXA VIDAL
ved, shell materials represent one of the main
resources for ornaments. Beads and pendants are
extremely common in archaeological assemblages
in Mediterranean Late Prehistory, but they are not
the exclusive products of shell raw material found in
our sites. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to identify
shell tools, as they usually show only subtle intentional
modifications. Moreover, the large number of
items found in littoral sites explains a non-conservative
behaviour as regards shells (for a detailed
version of some of the aspects discussed here, see
Daniella Bar Yosef’s compilation [2005]).
with replications of artefact forms and manufacture
using several raw materials (lithic, malacological,
bone). Although Siret’s role in experimental
archaeology is not well known, he left many reproductions
and some notes explaining his interest in
understanding manufacture techniques and use. In
some cases, he supplemented these studies with
chemical analyses to characterize small artefacts
(Maicas 2007: 20-24).
Siret’s outstanding work produced a large body
of information concerning shell objects; the volume
of his collection, therefore, allows new research on
this topic –and will probably continue to do so.
Figure 1. The Spanish Southeast
Our study considers the Siret collection from
the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid, Spain).
As discussed elsewhere (Maicas 2007), Louis Siret
was a Belgian engineer who developed the first
systematisations of Southeast Spanish prehistory at
the end of the 19 th - beginning of the 20 th century.
His deep understanding, artistic ability and scientific
curiosity provided one of the best collections
available in order to study the Neolithic,
Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age in the Mediterranean
area. He is also credited with both the pioneer field
research in the Southeast and the first material
analyses and experimentations aiming at –among
others– identifying the nature and function of the
recovered objects. We inherited, for instance, his
analyses to differentiate the raw material of the tiny
discoidal beads and some experiments on functionality,
as well as his notes about the optimal lithic
tools to open bivalves (Fig. 2).
The large number of archaeological materials
collected by Siret includes not only pristine
archaeological materials but also experimentation
of techniques and uses on ancient tools, together
2. THE BIVALVES
The different taxa of Glycymeris fill the first
place in our shell assemblages. Together with
Cerastoderma glaucum and Acanthocardia
tuberculata, they integrate the main group of
bivalves in these post-Palaeolithic sites. These
shells might have been used as pendants in a
number of cases because of the simplicity of their
manufacture and the high frequency of finding
naturally perforated shells. However, not all valves
were used as personal ornaments.
Different kinds of organic and inorganic
remains (lipids and pigments) can be identified in
the internal surface of many valves; moreover,
some of them present morphological changes
unsuitable for ornament-related uses. Considering
the nature of these internal remains, the valve size
and their contextual situation, we propose that
these shells may have served as small vessels for
mixing pigments, for instance. The presence of
holes in or near the umbo does not contradict this
function. Siret suggested that these holes were
appropriate to introduce some kind of wooden stick
to function as handles, as in the case of the shell
spoons found in the Caribbean and Philippines
(e.g. Perdikaris et al. 2008, Vitales 2008). The perforation
may also have functioned like a small funnel
or filter, making the shell a sort of lamp (cf. Siret
and Siret’s [1890] suggestion for Argaric clay spoons)
or a primitive minute colander or strainer. In different
contexts, we can identify shells used as vessels
to store makeup, mainly at funerary sites, like
the well-known case of the 4 th millennium predynastic
Egypt, where burial goods include
makeup, pallets and small vessels (Baduel 2005).
In other examples, the remains preserved
inside the valves were identified as bitumen (Siret
and Siret 1890: 146). This substance may have
functioned as a sort of glue or mastic to haft lithic
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián