The Manufacture of Cockle Shell Beads at Early Neolithic Franchthi Cave, Greece: A Case of Craft Specialization?

Abstract

This paper closely examines the process of manufacture of a largely disregarded class of social objects - personal ornaments. Specifically, the manufacture from marine mollusc shell of one distinct type of disc bead based on the archaeological remains from Franchthi Cave is described in detail, supplemented by ethnographic and experimental evidence. The results of this study establish criteria which may be applied to the production of diverse ornaments of various materials and from sites of many regions and dates. Several current models of craft specialization are compared in the following discussion. In light of these models, the evidence for the manufacture of shell beads at Franchthi Cave is re-examined and the possibility that this constituted a specialized craft production is evaluated.