Experimenting with Levantine Neolithic shell-bead production and use – A low magnification perspective

Abstract

Shells have been used as beads for ornamentation from early human history to this day. The Neolithic period in the Levant brought about profound changes in human lifeways that influenced the ways people chose, manufactured, and used shell beads. Different traces etched on shell beads may reflect various manufacturing modes and materials and diverse uses and interactions that shell beads had with different materials during use. In order to aid in the interpretation of such traces an experimental scheme was devised and carried out. Various Neolithic-style shell bead types were fabricated, using different techniques and materials; the replicas were strung by different strings, against different backdrop materials and in diverse configurations; and swung on a pendulating machine. Replicated shell beads were examined under low magnification and the traces recognized on them compared to wear traces identified on archaeological Neolithic shell beads from the Southern Levant. The comparison allowed, among other results, to define a specific type of wear associated with stringing and use of particular shell beads common in the Neolithic Levant. This finding will significantly increase our ability to recognize and interpret shell bead use in general, and particularly may be incorporated in a broader understanding of Neolithic dress, society and lifeways.