This dissertation was written as part of the MA in Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean Studies at the International Hellenic University. Shells of various types and origins were widely used as ornaments even from the Upper Palaeolithic period. The use of shells as a mean of ornamentation was most probably appreciated for its originality and rareness as well as the diversity of its form (shape, colour etc). This created a particular attractiveness to humans, which was additionally reinforced with emblematic and symbolic meaning by their use in clothing and body ornamentation. Shell ornaments could have decorated many parts of the body. Beads and pendants, objects of the same or different materials and shape would be put together in necklaces or bracelets. Actually, it is difficult to identify the exact use and role of these “ornaments” in the past. The decoration of some figurines could be interpreted as ornaments, and ethnographic parallels provide us with some suggestions about human ornaments, their use and/or symbolic meaning. Ornaments’ characteristics such as material, shape, colour or use, can give them magical and amuletic properties in which case they may be passed on to other people or ritually disposed of. In addition, beyond their aesthetic appeal ornaments carry emotional and symbolic values. Shell ornaments made of exotic materials present many questions beginning with their source. Whereas shell ornaments found in the hinterland very often pose questions regarding their arrival there, their actual value, who was involved in these distributions and why they exchanged them. All these issues refer to and discuss the role of exchange networks of exotic materials in prehistory. Many questions could be raised about shell ornaments either as items of decoration or for human ornamentation. While ornaments are artefacts of high symbolic potential, questions about their manufacture, their distribution, their form and characteristics, could be discussed.
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