Lecture-series »World Archaeology Seminars«

»Studies of shell ornaments in Poland - from the Palaeolithic to the Early Bronze Age«

Aldona Kurzawska | Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences

Mollusc shells were modified and used as ornaments in the area of Poland as early as in the Upper Palaeolithic period. However, it is not until the Neolithic period ca. 5,500 that shell ornaments appeared in large quantities and were widely employed as ornaments until the Early Bronze Age (c. 1500 BC). Ornaments were made of marine shells acquired from the Mediterranean Sea and locally available freshwater and Miocene fossil shells. Most of them have been recovered from burials. The presentation will discuss the materials, methods applied, and results of shell ornaments studies from Poland conducted since 2016.