Section 114 Exchange and Communication

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Section 114Exchange and Communication

• By Tory Ewing
• And assistant Brandi Bozoff

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The Spondylus Shell

• Related to the oyster
• They have a wide geographical distribution
• They have been around since the Jurassic
  period-for 190 million years!

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Why is the spondylus shell so important?

• It has exotic origins making it a prestige good.
• The shells are usually found far from their
  natural environment, so they must have traveled
  very far.

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The travels of the spondylus

• They are found in warm water oceans and have
  traveled long distances across Neolithic Europe
• They are trans-cultural objects spanning from
  the Aegean to the North Sea

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Valuable Characteristics of the Spondylus

• Their shells were used to make
• Tools
• Containers
• Trumpets
• Ornaments
• Inlay and gaming pieces and figurines
• The shells have many shapes, colors and they are
  even shiny!
• Other uses include
• Adornment, display, money, wealth, status
  markers, and ritual use

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Cultural significance of the spondylus

• They are material symbols of the interactions and
  relationships between individuals, groups, and
  societies in the past
• They differ from utilitarian goods because their
  purpose is to solve a social problem or
  accomplish a social task
• They are seen as prestige goods because they take
  more love to create-they usually require
  specialized labor or complex technologies

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The many wonders of the spondylus shell include

• The Vinca culture took part in a prestige-good
  economy
• People were able to trade by land and river
• The relationships between Vinca and other
  cultures were extensive
• insight into the distribution of goods and
  relationships between local and distant social
  groups
• information about the social aspects that a
  material object can represent

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References

• Chapman, John. 1981 The Vinca Culture of
  South-East Europe Studies in Chronology,
  Economy and Society. OxfordBritish
  Archaeological Reports No. 117.
• Chapman, John. 2000 Fragmentation in Archaeology
  People, Places and Broken Objects in the
  Prehistory of South-eastern Europe. London
  Routledge.
• Shackelton, J., and H. Elderfield 1990 Strontium
  Isotope dating of the source of Neolithic
  European Spondylus shell ornaments. Antiquity
  64 312-15.
• Tasic, Nenad n.d. Spondylus Finds at Vinca.
  Unpublished MS, University of Belgrade, Faculty
  of Philosophy, Centre or Archaeological
  Reasearch.
• Trubitt, Mary Beth. 2003 The Production and
  Exchange of Marine Shell Prestige Goods. Journal
  of Archaeological Research 11(3) 243-277.
• Pictures courtesy of