Dr. Fűköh Levente szerk.: Malakológiai Tájékoztató 16. (Eger, 1997.)

MIENIS, H.K.: The molluscs from the Iron Age shrine at Horvat Qitmit, Negev, Israel

Shells have therefore to be considered as commonly encountered finds at excavations. However, archaeological sites where only shells of a singlespecies are recovered, may be countod on the fingers of one hand. Such a site is Horvat Qitmit. The find of 18 manipulated Cowry shells all belonging to Cypraea annulus in the area of the shrine is therefore quite unique. Most probably the Cowries plaed a religious or votive role in the shrine. Perforated Cowry shells have been used intensively as amulets or charms to ensure fertility or to protect the bearer against the evil eye (Jackson, F. G. S. 1916). Even today charms decorated with Covry shells, prepared in the same way as those encountered at Qitmit, are still given to Bedouin brides in Saudi Arabia (Sharabati, D. 1981) and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. A shrine is therefore the most appropriate place to exhibit such shells either stringed together or glued to zoomorphic vessels found in the same area as has been assumed by P. Beck (I. Beith-Arieh, pers. com.). The question remains why only shellsl of Cypraea annulus were selected for that purpose? Horvat Qitmit is situated some 80 km from the nearest Mediterranean beach and 180 km from the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. In the Eastern Mediterranean 3 autotochthonous species of Cypraea occur (Barash, A. - Danin, Z. 1992), while at least 39 Cowry species are knovn to live in the Sinai-area of the Red Sea (Mienis, H. K. 1971, 1972 & unpublished data). The people at Qitmit ould make a choice out of more than 40 different species of Cypraea, most of them much more impressive and attractive than the relatively dull coloured Gold-ringers. The latter shows an orange coloured ring around the dorsum on a greyish background. By removing the dorsum, also the coloured ring disappears! Yet they used exclusively Cypraea annulus, an extremely rare Cowry in both the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez! Only towards the extreme southern part of the Red Sea it becomes more frequent (Sharabati, D. 1984). It is therefore most unlikely that the shells originated from the Gulf of Aqaba but rather from much farther away. Along the southern and eastern shores of the Arabian Peninsula this Cowry is found in fairly large numbers (Smythe, K. R. 1982; Bosch, D. - Bosch, E. 1982), becoming only abundant east of India and along the eastcoast of Africa (Burgess, C. M. 1985). Since Qitmit is closely associated with the Edomites (Beit-Arieh, pers. com.), it is most likely that the Cowries found in the shrine reached Qitmit via Trans-Jordan. How ever, the question remains the same. Where do we have to look for the source of Cypraea annulus? Did the Edomites have access to places much farther away towards the Arabian Gulf or the Indian Ocean proper? Conclusion The shells recovered in the shrine at Horvat Qitmit belong to a single species: Cypraea annulus. All the Cowry shells show a large man-made hole in the dorsum. A two-stage method was applied to remove the dorsum of the shell: a. a rough hole was pierced into the dorsum with a sharp object; b. the irregular margins of the hole were smoothed out by grinding the damaged part of the shell over a stone. These manipulated Cowry shells served most probably as religious or votive objects. A second possibility is that they were used for similar reasons as additional ornaments on zoomorphic vessels.