The Use of Cone Shells in Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece

Author(s): David S. Reese

Source: The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 78 (1983), pp. 353-357
Published by: British School at Athens
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/30102810
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 THE USE OF CONE SHELLS IN NEOLITHIC AND
BRONZE AGE GREECE

THE Mediterranean Cone shell (Conus mediterraneus Hwass in

Gmelin) is an inedible marine gastropod which grows to a maxim
(FIG. I). They were commonly used in Neolithic and Bronze
burial offerings, and may also have been used as gaming piec
Neolithic Knossos on Crete produced one shell holed on the
Attica produced five cones, some of which are holed at the apex
Neolithic Saliagos near Antiparos in the Cyclades have a
A water-worn cone holed at the apex comes from Late Neolithic
Tepe) in Aegean Thrace.4 Neolithic and Bronze Age Lerna in
cones with at least one collected dead and two from graves.5
Laconia produced two cones holed at the apex (personal anal
There are sixteen cones from the Unexplored Mansion at
burnt shell comes from the Late Minoan (LM) II destruction
the others have the labial side of the shell ground down to p
in the centre of this area. Twelve of these are LM II, one is
and another is MM-LM II. There are four shells from Room H and two from Rooms N and
M. One Conus comes from just above a Geometric floor here and may date to c. 750 B.C
A ground-down and holed cone has been found in the excavation of the Royal Road
Knossos, which also produced a LM IIIC cone holed at the apex and a third specimen ho
both at the apex and on the upper body whorl (personal analysis). Ground-down and h
cones have also been found at the Stratigraphic Museum site at Knossos, now under st
by Sheilagh Wall. One similarly worked cone (Object 30) comes from the Sanctuary o
Demeter at Knossos, and is described by Helen Hughes-Brock:7
To the left of the aperture the wall has been worked smooth and a hole pierced in
smoothed face.., .the carefully smoothed face on this example seems unusual.
Elsewhere on Crete, Pyrgos Myrtos in the south-east produced four cones holed at the ap
and one holed opposite the aperture (personal analysis). One cone with a hole on the up
body on the side of the aperture and the upper part of the columella (central stem
a gastropod) removed comes from the LM IIIA2 Court I I of the Rooms East of the H
of the Press on the Hilltop at Kommos in southern Crete (personal analysis). From abov
floor of Room M at Chania in north-western Crete comes one Conus with a ground-down si
and holed (personal analysis).
In the Cyclades a ground-down and holed cone and a cone with a hole at the apex a

1 N. J. Shackleton in BSA 63 (1968) 266. Thrace, Northern Greece' in excavation report in press in
Stockholm.
2 H. Chevallier in N. Lambert (ed.), La Grotte prihistorique
de Kitsos (Attique) ii (i98i) 620-I fig. 363. 5 N.-G. Gejvall, Lerna: a Preclassical site in the Argolid, I: The
3 N. J. Shackleton in J. D. Evans and A. C. Renfrew,
Fauna (1969) table 4 and personal analysis.
Excavations at Saliagos near Antiparos (1968) 136 pl. xlix second6 D. S. Reese, 'Marine Invertebrates from the Unexplored
row, left. Mansion, Knossos, Crete', to appear in excavation report.
4 D. S. Reese, 'Marine and Fresh-water Molluscs from Late ' H. Hughes-Brock in J. N. Coldstream, Knossos: The
Neolithic/Chalcolithic Paradeisos (Klisi Tepe) in Aegean Sanctuary of Demeter (1973) 118-I9.

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 354 D. S. REESE

FIG. I. Various subspecies

the upper part of the c

(personal analysis).
One water-worn cone wit
fragments in a Late Hel
Argolid a cone with an ap
analysis). Nearby Tiryn
holed here (but possibly a
The necropolis also produ
North of Tiryns, eight
quantity and state of th
been ground down and h
British excavations at M
six ground down and hol
deposits. One is burnt bl
upper part of the columel
The 1974 Greek excavat
seventy-five holed at the

8 D. S. Reese, 'Recent and Fossil Invertebrates from Bronze 10 Ibid. 77 pl. 46.3 no. 47, object 2468.
Age to Byzantine Nichoria in Messenia, Western Greece', to " C. W. Blegen, Prosymna: The Helladic Settlement Preceding
appear in Excavations at Nichoria in Southwest Greece ii. the Argive Heraeum (i937) 465.
9 Tiryns VI (1973) 39 pl. 18.5 no. 13, object 2302.

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THE USE OF CONE SHELLS IN NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE GREECE 355

410 11512 13 4 14 11 4

1- TIATM .. Mii II i tt9111

(a) Water-worn cone with apical hole (b) Cones from British Excavations at
found with 40 dentalia fragments at Mycenae (from left to right): 59-255;
Nichoria and LH IIIAI-2 in date (Fn 1966 r21 ; 1968 F23 15; 1968 FMB 184;
4897) 69-911; 1969 r32 268; 1969 F32 397

~"` 1''3"'r~.~.;.~jl . .r..;~.l.i..j-..I~.~;i`" S ''`"~`*'"~;;"'1~"'f'~~lf -'~I';Z

(c) Sample of the 542 cones from one
deposit at Greek excavations at
Mycenae
(d) Cones from Greek excavations at
Mycenae: three ground down and
holed (left), three with holes punched
on side of aperture; second from right
also holed by gastropod on upper body
whorl

F"-m- I II112 fl " l I" Ifl

(e) Cones from Greek excavations at

Mycenae: one ground down but not
holed on side of aperture; other ground
down and holed
(f) Cones from Greek excavations at
Mycenae: drilled shells (left) and
examples with open bodies (right)

....' 4 iI 1o7wa
(g) Cones from Greek excavations at (h) Cones from Greek excavations at
Mycenae: seven of the eight lead-filled Mycenae: detail of lead-filled shells and
shells and lead interior cast (right) lead interior cast (right)

FIG. 2

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 356 D. S. REESE

analysis) (FIG. 2c-h). Table 2 des

cone collections are very simila
Chamber Tomb I at Mycenae
least twelve ground down an
Kalkani cemetery at Mycenae
holed at the apex and another
(National Museum 3433, 3552,
display in the National Muse
At the LH IIIC Perati cemetery
and over 338 are present from
the side and holed and many
are a number of tombs with la
The National Museum exhibits
three ground down and holed a
Spyros Iakovidis notes that, as
cone shells were of children, an

acted as a brake if the shells w

must have been used for some

Thebes also produced at least

later Lefkandi in Euboea prod
(personal analysis).
The use of Conus in Greece beg
sites and from graves (Lern
Ground-down and holed co
Koukounaries, Prosymna, M
Knossos might be residuals fr
The use of these shells is not
used as gaming pieces or toys
some form of fishing or garm
variety of Mycenaean conuli,
weights. These are usually ma
ivory, or glass paste,15 and bot
in large numbers in tombs, as
the same tomb.
Even in a single collection, the numerous methods of working Conus may indicate va
uses of the shell. Often the shells are not modified at all: of the 542 cones from a single de
at Mycenae (Table 2), there are 173 or 32 per cent unmodified, and the Prosymna to
with the largest number of cones, Tomb XXVI, contained sixteen unmodified shells of fort

12 Sp. Iakovidis, Perati- The Cemetery C (1970) 364. Large15 Sp. Iakovidis, 'On the use of Mycenaean "Buttons"',
BSA 72 (1977) 113-
accumulations are shown on plates 56P (burial A96, 25 shells,
16 There are 16o conuli from a Mycenae chamber tomb
6+ ground down and holed), Io9p (burial A10o, 38 shells,
excavated by Tsountas, comparable with the 158 Conus
one lead-filled (top left and y)), 133a (burial A137, 6o cones),
and I35a (burial AI 72, 158 with II + ground down and
found in Tomb A172 at Perati. The 35 conuli from Tomb
holed). XXIV at Deiras can be compared with the 38 cone shells
13 Sp. Iakovidis, Excavations of the Necropolis at Perati
from Tomb A IoI at Perati and 40 from Tomb XXVI at
(I980) 98. Prosymna.
14 Ibid.

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 THE USE OF CONE SHELLS IN NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE GREECE 357

found (40 per cent). Lead-filled shells are usually a small part of the collectio
at Mycenae, about i-o per cent at Perati) and their use is also uncertain."7
Other shells were also used in Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece as ornamen
offerings, particularly cowries and various nassariid species, especially Arcularia
Cyclope neritea.18
DAVID S. REESE

TABLE I. Cone shells from LH III chamber tombs at Prosymna, Argolid, G

Tomb Numberfond Unholed Holedapx Holednarpx bygastropd Holedn side Holednapx andsie Holed elswhr Blegn(1937) figure Displayn NationlMusem

I 2 - I I - 143, 20 (2 shells) Case 1, 6295

III 3 -- t -- 463, 11-13 Case i i, 6420
IV 2 2 -- - 492, 4-5 Case io, 6426
XIX 2 - 2 - - II6, 9 (I shell)
XXVI 40 i6 7 I 14 2 212 (30 shells) Case i i, 6651 (28 shells)
XXXIV 3 - I* 2 263, I (3 shells)
XXXV 5 I - I 3+ 276, 4 (5 shells)
XXXVIII I- - 310, 5
Total 58 20 9t 2 16t 5 3

* Large hole; part of columella removed. t E

+ I holed near bottom, I with 2 holes at side, I

TABLE 2. Cones from one deposit at M

173 unmodified
3 holed on upper spire (by gastropod)
14 holed at apex only
I holed at apex and on upper body whorl (by gastropod
2 holed at apex and with an open body (FIG. 2f, right)
16 with hole punched on side of aperture and columella r
3 with hole punched on side and columella removed an
2 with hole punched on side, columella removed and hol
I with open side (FIG. 2f, second from right)

I with 2 holes (I 15 mm) drilled in centre and at distal end

3 ground down but not holed on side of aperture (FIG. 2e, l
248 ground down and holed on side of aperture (FIG. 2d,
54 ground down, holed on side, and holed at apex
9 ground down, holed on side, and holed on upper body
3 ground down, holed on side, and holed on body whorl
I ground down, holed on side, and hole (1-5 mm) drilled
2 ground down, holed on side, and filled with lead (FIGs.
5 ground down, holed on side, and holed at apex and fill
I ground down, holed on side, holed at apex, and holed o
I lead interior cast of a cone shell (FIG. 2g, right, FIG. 2h,

1' The lead-filled cone shells have

18 D. S. been
Reese,studied by Su
'The Archa
Mossman in connection with her
Shells in work on Mycenaean
the Mediterranean Ba
objects, and she might have suggestionsAnthropology
Mediterranean as to their purp
and A

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