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The Engraved Tridacna-Shell Discs*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Baruch Brandl
Baruch Brandl
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
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Extract

It is now more than 140 years since archaeologists began dealing with the engraved Tridacna shells, whose distribution extended from Vulci in the west to Susa in the east, and from Memphis in the south to Gordion and Vulci in the north. Their number is growing constantly and is now approaching 100. This increase is the result not only of the publication of new finds or old museum material, which until now escaped the scholar's eyes, but also of the reclassification of four items, in the past said to be imitations made of various stones, as authentic Tridacna shells.

In this article I want to show that this is true not only with the complete Tridacna shells, but also of a sub-group of Tridacna shells cut into the shape of discs. I will try to prove that the items in this sub-group are indeed Tridacna shells by describing them and discussing their motives and distribution. I will not deal with questions such as the centre of manufacture, distributors, style etc. important as they are. These aspects will be discussed by me in detail in a separate publication which will treat the Tridacna shell group as a whole.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 34 , December 1984 , pp. 15 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1984

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