Long-distance trade and consumption of mollusks in the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods in the Negev Desert

Abstract

Recent archaeological excavations in the Negev desert in the southern Levant have yielded a variety of mollusk shells originating from the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile River, and the Red Sea, uncovered in the trash mounds and settlements of Byzantine and Early Islamic sites. These remains indicate that aquatic products were among the merchandised comestibles transported across long distances. Three shellfish taxa manifest such transportation: (1) the small clam, Donax trunculus, commonly found in the exposed sandy wash zones of the Eastern Mediterranean coast; (2) the large freshwater mussel, Chambardia rubens, whose habitat stretches from the Nile River to western Africa; and (3) the large conch, Lambis truncata, commonly found in the shallow waters of the Red Sea. The breakage and abrasion patterns of the shell fragments of these three species suggest that they were collected as live specimens and not as empty shells washed ashore. The other taxa, however, were mostly collected as empty shells to be used, for example, as ornaments.