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Shell beads and social behaviour in Pleistocene Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jane Balme  and
Kate Morse
Jane Balme
Affiliation:
*Archaeology, School of Social and Cultural Studies, University of Western Australia, Australia
Kate Morse
Affiliation:
*Archaeology, School of Social and Cultural Studies, University of Western Australia, Australia
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Extract

Why did Palaeolithic people wear shells, and why was the practice so widespread in the world? The authors' own researches in Western Australia show that specific marine shells were targeted, subject to special processes of manufacture into beads and that some had travelled hundreds of kilometres from their source. Whether they were brought in land by the manufacturers, or by specially ornamented people, these beads provided a symbolic language that somehow kept the early peoples of Australia in touch with the sea.

Keywords

PalaeolithicPleistoceneAustraliamarine shellsornamentbeadssymbolism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 310 , 1 December 2006 , pp. 799 - 811
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

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