The Use of Spondylus gaederopus during the Neolithic of Europe

Abstract

Artefacts made of the Mediterranean mollusc Spondylus gaederopus have been in the focus of archaeological research since the discovery and publication of the hoard of Bernburg, Germany, in 1885 by Rudolf Virchow. They are considered to be one of the first long-distance exchange goods in Europe, as the distribution of Spondylus artefacts spread between the Adriatic/Aegean Sea up to the Paris Basin during the Neolithic. While the dataset covers sites with Spondylus between the Palaeolithic and the Iron Age, the artefacts are described in detail for the time period between 5500 and 5000 BC. Funding statement: The research was funded by the Leibniz Association and the Ruhr-University Bochum.

Keywords

• neolithic
• trade and exchange
• spondylus gaederopus
• prehistoric archaeology
• economic archaeology