The problematic role of fossilized mollusc shells in the Upper Palaeolithic of Hungary
Csaba Bálint*
* Dobó István Castle Museum; 1 Vár, Eger, 3300 Hungary; E-mail: bcs890321@gmail.com, ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0652-8612
Cite as: Bálint, Cs. (2023). The problematic role of fossilized mollusc shells in the Upper Palaeolithic of Hungary. In A. Király (Ed.), From tea leaves to leaf-shaped tools. Studies in honour of Zsolt Mester on his sixtieth birthday (pp. 31–47). Lithic Research Roundtable & Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. https://doi.org/10.23898/litikumsi02a01
Abstract: Within the context of the Palaeolithic of Hungary, the most abundant finds that do not bear any obvious practical function are tertiary fossil molluscs. The scientific consensus is that these were used as personal ornaments expressing social identity. This paper’s goal is to shed light on the problems related to the mollusc shell find assemblages. This study touches on the discussed finds’ raw material sources and their role in the settlement of a specific region, the differences and relations between the mollusc shell assemblages, the importance of certain form preferences, and the problem of the possible function of these items. This work also raises attention to the question of geographical location. The mollusc shell find assemblages are concentrated in the Danube Bend area. Its overall conclusion is that assemblages with diverse form preferences imply different social identities. Their situation within a relatively small territory could indicate a refuge area where the meeting of groups with distinct self-identifications was commonplace.
Keywords: Upper Palaeolithic, Art, Jewellery, Carpathian Basin, Gravettian
With this paper I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Zsolt Mester for his scientific and educational work providing me with invaluable guidance throughout my years of academic study as well as for my current occupation as an archaeologist. I would also like to thank the editor of this book, Attila Király for his work and his contribution to the current paper. The figures for this paper was created by him for which I am also extremely grateful. Additional thanks goes out to Norbert Faragó for his suggestions and contributions to my work
Data availability statement: The author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Funding statement: The author received no financial support for the research and/or the publication of this article.
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International Public License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). You are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and transform the material, under the following terms: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
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