10.17863/CAM.10167
Barker, Graeme
An incised shell object from Baradostian (Early Upper Palaeolithic) layers in Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository (staging)
2017
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository (staging)
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository (staging)
2017-11-23
2017-11-23
2017-08-01
Article
2352-409X
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/269615
Shanidar Cave contains one of the most important Palaeolithic archaeological sequences in West Asia. During renewed excavations of Baradostian (Upper Palaeolithic) layers in the cave, an incised land-snail shell fragment was recovered. A natural cause seems unlikely and it does not appear likely to reflect palaeoeconomic functions. It is suggested tentatively that this may have been made during manufacture of a composite artefact designed for visual display. Although Upper Palaeolithic ornaments are often reported, composite ornaments of this period are rather unusual.
Leverhulme Trust
RPG-2013-105