Dr. Fűköh Levente szerk.: Malakológiai Tájékoztató 16. (Eger, 1997.)
MIENIS, H.K.: The molluscs from the Iron Age shrine at Horvat Qitmit, Negev, Israel
1997 16: 31-34 The molluscs from the Iron Age shrine at Horvat Qitmit, Negev, Israel H. K. Mienis Abstract: The archaeological site Horvat Qitmit is situated some 10 km south of Tel Arad, near Nahal Qitmit (= Wadi Qattamat), Negev, Israel. The site was excavated by Dr. I. Beit-Arieh between 1984 and 1986. It turned out to contain only material characteristic for the Iron Age-II period. Consequently Qitmit dates back to the 6th Century B. C. E. Among the archaeozooological finds at the site are some molluscs. They are dealt with in this report. Material and Methods The mollusc material consists only of four samplex, which were all recovered from the shrine. In order to identify these archaeomalaclogical finds, the samples were taken to the National Mollusc Collection of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. With the help of the rich reference collection all the shells were identified to species level. Results All the shells found in the shrine of Horvat Qitmit turned out to belong to a single species: Cypraea annulus Linnaeus, 1758, Fam. Cypraeidae. This species, the Gold-ringer Cowry, is of Indo-Pacific origin. The basic data concerning all the 18 specimens are enumerated in Table 1. The shells vary considerably in length (14.7-25.7) and width (11.0-18.4), a phenomenon well-known in this species (Schilder, M. - Schilder, F. 1930). However in this case they form most probably a natural entity as is evident from Fig. 1. All the shells are manipulated and show a large man-made hole in the dorsum. In 17 shells the dorsum is removed completely; in the remaining specimen an irregular holel is present in the dorsum near the anterior extremity. It is just that awkward hole which gave away the technique used in all the specimens in order to transform an undamaged Cowry shell into a shell bead. With a sharp object the dorsum was punctured, resulting in a rough hole with irregular margins. This act was followed by grinding the damaged side of the shell over a smooth stone in order to smooth out more-or-less the irregular margins. This time saving technique has recently been described in more detail by Francis (1987). Discussion Long before the dawn of modern civilization molluscs played already an important role in the lives of mankind (Dance, S. P. 1966). The soft parts of the molluscs: the shellfish, provided the first primitive people with an easily obtainable food, rich in proteins (Reese, D. 1978), while some species were also used for the preparation of natural colours (Spanier, E. 1987). The longlasting shells of the molluscs were expolited even more intensively for a multitude of purposes like building material, utensils (e.g. containers, plates, cups), music instruments (e.g. shell-trumpets, rattles), ornaments (beads and pendants), means of exchange (shell-money was known in China as early as 2000 B.C.E.!) and religious- and votive objects (Pfeiffer, L. 1914).
