Un ejemplar de Cypraea pantherina en una tumba Altoimperial de Augusta Emerita

Abstract

In this brief report, we present a specimen of the marine mollusk shell recovered as part of a Roman burial deposit of High-imperial period. The element comes from a tomb excavated in the city of Merida (Spain). The taxonomic analysis indicates it concerned to the species Cypraea pantherina. It is an exotic element of Indo-Pacific origin, including occasionally as funeral offerings in the Roman world from the first century BC. This species, in particular, is associated with female graves. The shell associates connotations of fertility, good childbirth and procreation. The case of Mérida (Augusta Emerita) is the only one that has been reported in the Iberian Peninsula. This allows to extend this way our knowledge on the distribution of exotic species proceeding from distant seas by means of the human activity.