C&T Publications Eye on Fine Art Photography - June 2014 | Page 56
Seashells:
An Ancient Human Obsession
by Cindy Ackley Nunn
Anyone who has grown up near a beach, or visited one during vacation or holiday time, no doubt also remembers the hours spent
hunting for the perfect seashells to take home as a souvenir, where they would take a place of honor on a shelf, table or window sill.
I am pleasantly amazed to see, in our ultra-modern world of video games, cell phones and the internet, that children of today still
enjoy this activity. Could it have something to do with an ancient genetic trait that is so deeply ingrained into our psyche that
collecting shells just comes naturally to us? Archaeological findings seem to bear this out.
In 2007, while excavating in the Cave of Pigeons at Taforalt, north-east Morocco, archaeologists discovered 13 Nassarius
gibbosulus shells which had been perforated and coated with red ochre. These shell beads turned out to be 82,000 years old, making
them the oldest known personal adornment used by humans. Up until this point the oldest specimens had been found at palaeolithic
sites in Israel and Algeria, which were dated as being 40,000 years old. The fascinating thing here is that the shell beads from
Algeria and Israel were of the same type, with the same perforation style, as the 82,000 year old shell beads found in Morocco!
How much simpler life must have been for men who wished to gift their wife or sweetheart with a piece of jewellery. No worries
about taking out a second mortgage or working killer overtime hours. Just wander down to the shore, gather a handful of shells, poke
some holes in them, maybe add some colored ochre for that extra bit of flair, thread on to a string of sinew, and voilà!
Image on the left (© Didier Descouens) is of a Stone Age burial in Brittany dating from 5000-7000 BCE, showing the skeletons of two
women who were buried wearing necklaces made of numerous shells of the sea snail Trivia. The image on the right (© Dustin P.
Smith) is a modern display of shell necklaces for sale at Raratonga, the Cook Islands.
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