Death, gender, and sea shells in Carthage

Abstract

Sea shells were typical offerings in Carthaginian burials, yet archaeologists have rarely paid any attention to them and have therefore written very little about them. Given the Phoenician adoption of various Egyptian funerary customs and motifs, moreover, sea shells in Carthaginian burials are typically attributed the same meaning as those in Egyptian burials. Given our understanding of the Phoenician association with the sea and our understanding about specifically Carthaginian funerary customs and offerings, however, it is likely that there are distinctively Carthaginian reasons for the inclusion of sea shells in their burials.

Keywords

• burials
• burial customs
• sea shells
• nourishment
• Murex