Explaining the lack of emu eggshell material culture in Australia: Experimental working and archaeological implications

Abstract

Ostrich eggshell (OES) disc beads are among the earliest types of personal adornment produced by Modern Human populations in African and Asia, and represent the first example of a raw material transformed into an entirely new shape — as opposed to simply perforating a whole marine shell — for decorative purposes. These same beads have continued to be made into present day as an important item in modern gift-exchange systems in sub-Saharan Africa, while OES has a similarly long history for being used as water (etc.) containers. Given the importance of OES to so many communities through time and space, questions regarding why a similar use of emu eggshell (EES) is completely absent from the Australian context is frequently voiced in archaeological forums. This paper will address that question through experimental replication of both OES and EES disc beads for direct comparison of their manufacture and use characteristics. It was found that while it is possible to successfully create disc beads in EES, there are several factors which make this raw material unsuitable for use in either social or utilitarian technologies.