Sammy Snail
Man
and Mollusc
Uses of Shell-Bearing Molluscs - Past, Present & Future
by
Avril Bourquin and many contributors
December
1999
Sammy Snail
|
Note:
There is a lot more scientific information with the advanced version (man_and_mollusc.html) - if you think you are ready for it! |
| Introduction:
This report on man's uses of shells is a "continuing" work. It never will be finished, for just as today becomes the past and tomorrow becomes the present, man's uses of molluscs and their shelly homes, is boundless! I have tried to include enough information here and elsewhere on the site, so that you the student can write your own report or that you the educator can pick and choose the information needed to develop a lesson plan suitable to your class or youth group. I encourage you to go to the books and sites that I have used in helping to develop this report (which are listed at the bottom of the page), and in the links section (available soon!). There is a wealth of information out there and I have just touched the surface. I would advise that you periodically check back to this report, as new information will be added as it comes up! If you have information or suggestions that you think would benefit this report, please feel free to contact me at any time. Avril
Bourquin |
| 1) Food | 7) Music & Communication |
|
2) Trade Goods |
|
|
9) Industry |
|
|
4) Tools |
10) Offshoots |
|
6) Religion |
12) Shell Collecting |
|
1.
Food:
|
|
Along the world's miles of coastline, man has always had a very available food source - high in protein and trace minerals, because of the many kinds of molluscs to be found there. Mussel and oyster beds, clam-flats and other abundant shellfish have always provided an easy source of food. Today, fisheries in Europe, Japan and the US alone produce over 1 billion pounds of oyster meat each year. Abalone, a great delicacy, can fetch up to three hundred dollars per pound. Could you imagine a world without Clam Chowder?*One problem does exist; however. At certain times of the year, (usually the warmer months) many species of salt-water molluscs become very poisonous (L) due to an algal bloom (Note: The algae include many unusual organisms which are one-celled and can swim like animals, and all the many different kinds of seaweed.) known as "red tide." The molluscs filter feed on these tiny creatures (called "dinoflagellates" - no relation to dinosaurs!!) that produce the toxins. Eating shellfish during "Red Tide' can cause serious illness and even death to humans. This could be one explanation why in the Jewish and Muslim cultures, shellfish are considered unclean and forbidden. Tastes in molluscan food vary tremendously from one person to the next and from culture to culture; however, when it comes to a question of survival, most molluscs are edible. Some are considered delicacies such as oysters and escargot while others such as the clams and mussels of fresh water ponds and streams are less likely to be consumed due to taste, but none-the-less are very edible. Terrestrial molluscs (the ones that live on land, i.e..) are also eaten. France alone consumes 5 million pounds of escargot (a snail that lives in trees!) every year.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Here are some more examples of molluscs commonly eaten: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Very few molluscs are actually poisonous, and a huge variety of them end up in cooking pots around the world - The animals that once lived in most ornamental shells sold in stores probably ended up that way! Man and Mollusc now has a Data Base under construction: (molluscan_food_mp.html) I am attempting to list as many edible mollusc species as possible. You can also find a lot of information on specific shells being consumed, whether or not they are commercially harvested, being raised by aquaculturists and in a few instances, I've even included recipes. This is a bit advanced if you are under the age of about 12 years; but feel free to visit the data base. I hope you enjoy this new project. Avril (avrilb@telus.net) |
|
2.
Trade Goods:
|
|
Shell currency has been around for over 4,000 years and was, in it's heyday, the most widely used currency in the world. Even today, there still exist minor currencies based on certain shells. Some examples of shells' uses in trade are:
· Pearly oysters were traded all over the Panamanian and Andean region. · Aztecs paid shell tributes to the Emperor Montezuma. · Ancient Phoenician coins distributed throughout the Mediterranean world were sculptured in the likeness of the scallop, murex and Triton shells.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
3.
Medicinal Uses:
|
|
Shell amulets were once thought to ward off ill health, infertility or bad luck. Shells have also been ground up for use in potions and for various medicinal uses throughout history. Today the shell, its living flesh and by products are being studied and used in many areas of medicine. Some examples:
|
|
4.
Tools:
|
|
From prehistoric times, man has used shells for tools. This practice has been born out by archaeological findings in ancient sites and still carries on even today. Some examples of these shell tools are:
|
|
5.
Art and Architecture:
|
|
Man has long been inspired by the graceful symmetry and beauty of shells. Archaeological diggings at many ancient sites have produced shells and artifacts in the design of shells. Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans used the shell's shape as part of their building design and decor. Shells and shell motifs have often been incorporated into man's homes and public buildings. Architecture has been profoundly influenced by the symmetry of molluscs. Many great artists were so inspired by the beauty, diversity and design of the shell, that they incorporated them into their masterpieces. Here are a few examples of shell artistry, famous artists and architectures:
|
||||||||||||||||
| Artists: | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Sculptors: | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Architecture: | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Crafts: | ||||||||||||||||
|
Today, man's love affair with the shell is still seen in many of his crafts such as:
(Can you find examples of some of these on the web?) Shell Crafts remain a distinct form of decoration. Many of the art forms of today started in the early eighteenth century. The chief credit for making shell work so popular and fashionable a pastime goes to England and specifically to Mrs. Delany and the Duchess of Portland (1714-1785). Untold millions of shells are displayed in homes and are cherished as curios and in treasured private collections worldwide. (http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/Archives/OldSite2001/HuntMus/cook/duchess.html) |
||||||||||||||||
| Decorations: | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
6.Religion:
|
|
Shells have played a central role in religion from prehistoric times on. Dominating early religious practices, cowry shells had powerful symbolism (basically sexual, for they were first and foremost a female symbol) and this was renewed in the religions of the great civilizations that followed. The presence of shells in prehistoric burial places indicates that their symbolic power was believed to continue beyond life. Shells in some cultures even today are used as amulets, good luck charms, and as symbols for love, fertility and life eternal. Some examples of some these religious practices are:
|
|
7.Music
and Communication:
|
|
Long
before our modern day communication systems, man found that
trumpets made from shells produced a sound that carried for
many miles. By using as series of trumpet blasts, messengers
were able to communicate fairly detailed messages from village
to village, tribe to tribe. (Note: The Seashell Trumpet Site is
a great place to learn how to make your own shell trumpets
and other instruments!!) (http://www.furious.com/perfect/shells.html)
Some ways in which shells were or still are used are:
Almost any shell modified by drilling a hole into it can be used to make music. Any large shell, unmodified and filled with water, can be used to make musical gurgling sounds (try it!!). Most of us, at some time or other, have held an empty shell up to our ear to hear the music of the ocean waves (Note: The "whooshing" sound you hear is actually a mixture of all the sounds around you, bouncing off the hard sides of the shell: if you could find a completely quiet place to hold a shell to your ear, you wouldn't hear a thing!). Some shells commonly used for making music, and for signaling devices are:
|
|
8.
Personal Adornment:
|
|
It can be said that every culture has used shells, whole or in part, and pearls as personal adornment. Some cultures even wore shells as part of their elaborate costume to signal their distinct tribal identities and to display their role and rank within the tribe. In some parts of India, a Hindu woman's equivalent of a wedding ring is a bracelet made of the sections of the Indian (or Sacred) Chank shell.
Some of the other ways shells have been used as adornment are:
Two examples of man using the by-products of molluscs for decoration or fancy clothing are:
2.
as Dyes. Dyes made from molluscs were
used to beautify clothing and other items made from cloth.
Depending on the species of mollusc used, the final product
varied from red to violet to almost black. As early as the
fifteenth century B.C., the people of Tyre and Sidon had
found a way to extract the purple dye from some molluscs.
The same royal purple colour worn by kings, emperors and
high priests in the past is still used in the robes and
alter mantles of some religions today. (Note: The color
the ancients called "purple" (Royal or otherwise),
was in fact closer to a dark burgundy or maroon, and various
shades of blue were also included under the general moniker
(i.e., name) of "Purple". In the northern
Mediterranean, the dye makers found they could change the
color produced by peeing into the vat! (The priests and
nobles who wore the finished product probably never even
knew!!)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
9.
Industry:
|
|
Today, molluscan research is taking place in the areas of: parasitology, biochemistry, mathematics, archaeology, paleobiography, palaeontology, taxonomy, ecology and zoology. Also, many of the categories of use discussed above have significant economic impact, mostly in many small businesses, so the total economic activity involved in man's varied uses of molluscs is quite major!!! Some other industries also making use of molluscs are:
|
|
10.
Offshoots:
|
|
Shells have had an indirect influence in advancing other industrial and world concerns in areas such as:
|
|
11.
Miscellaneous Uses:
|
|
|
12.
Shell Collecting:
|
|
It is man's inborn nature to collect, whether it be rocks,
shells, coins, stamps, cars, or baseball cards. We all
collect. We always have. It's part of being human. We
find looking for, sorting, identifying, cataloguing, and
trading of items we find dear to us, and quite satisfying. |
In this paper, I will only cover a few of the more important "ALL-TIME GREATS" and their contributions to the world of molluscs - there have been a great many, plenty of them amateurs (i.e., folks who do things just for the love of it, not for payment!)
|
Conchologists:
(They study the shell part of molluscs - their external Skeletons!) |
|
George Eberhard Rumpf (often referred to as Rumphius) (1627-1702) Holland: Rumphius wrote the first large-scale written account of the natural history of South Pacific molluscs. He originated most of the names of the common Pacific shells, as we know them today, and was also the first person to report on the fatal bites of cone shells. What is even more fascinating to some, is that he continued to do good science even after going blind - working only by feel!! Margaret Cavendish Bentinick, second duchess of Portland (1714-1786) England was an attractive, wealthy lady who had an insatiable taste for collecting shells. She entertained such dignitaries as King George III, Rousseau (French botanist), Captain James Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, and George Humphrey (shell dealer). She hired Daniel Solander, the knowledgeable conchologist and student of the great Linnaeus, to curate and prepare a catalogue of her huge, growing collection. Hugh Cumming (1791-1865) England: his name is almost synonymous with conchology - no man has ever equaled the amount of material nor discovered a larger number of new shells. (nearly 2,000 species). Today, his collection resides in the British Museum of Natural History in London Philippe Dautzenberg (1849- 1935 ) Belgium: an outstanding conchologist, accumulated rarities and old collections. By the age of 65, he had acquired more than 30,000 species and a magnificent library. His well documented collection is preserved in the Institute Royal des Sciences Naturelles in Brussels Some of the other great conchologists are: · Sowerby: (Note: there were actually four Sowerbys (three major, one minor), all from the same family. Some of them also sold shells to collectors, so they were sometimes accused of describing (i.e., naming) new species just to make money from them! Two of them were illustrators (they drew things very well - in this case, shells!) of considerable skill, and their work fetches a high price to this day.)
|
|
Malacologists:
(Scientists who study molluscs - bodies
and all!)
(Note: Some tricky parts here - so beware!) |
|
Thomas Say (1787-1834) is known as the father of malacology. He did a lot of the initial organizational work ("Taxonomy") on how various species of molluscs are related to each other, and also described many species in the process. Dr. Martin Lister, (mid 1800s ) England Physician: Dr. Lister's great work Historia Conchyliorum, consisting of a thousand engraved plates of world-wide species, was for years the only reliable source of illustration for most species. Johann Chemnitz (late 1700s ) Denmark clergyman: wrote eight enormous volumes on the shells of the world. His beautiful colored plates, long and accurate descriptions, attention to locality data, when he had it, and classification were a great stimulus to others in the field. Henry August Pilsbry (1862-1957) USA: produced superior research for seventy-five years at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He described over 3,000 species and genera, and for some time also served as the editor of the Nautilus, America's oldest mollusc journal. R. Tucker Abbott (1919 - 1995): This remarkable man was one of the "bridges" between the old and the new schools of Malacology. His nearly unbelievable productivity (he founded and edited the journals Johnsonia and Indo-Pacific Molluscs, published a large number of books both for Malacologists and Conchologists of all sorts, described many species, founded the Bailey-Matthews Shell museum, taught and supervised graduate Students for many years......) was only matched by his generosity of spirit and the keen interest he took in all aspects of Conchology in the United States: Tucker Abbott, Ruth Turner, Jim Harasewych, A.H. Verrill and Bill Clench, are largely responsible for the renaissance and transformation of the study of Molluscs (in North America) in the latter half of our century, and Tucker, along with such other notable authors as Phillip Dance and Percy Morris, was instrumental in preventing shell-collecting in North America from declining into obscurity, by providing a wealth of affordable, largely non-scientific shell identification literature. For a great Biography, see Lynn Scheu's article on the COA website. (http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/abbott.html) Some other great malacologists were:
A good number of very skilled malacologists are of course alive and hard at work today (there are many more species to be described than have already been found so far, and DNA and advanced dissection work are revising our taxonomic understanding - sometimes radically!). Some of these will be covered in an upcoming addition to this section. Meanwhile, I would appreciate any information that would help in this task! (Contact me" mailto:manandmollusc@telus.net) |
| Bibliography: |
|
Kingdom
of the Seashell Shells
& Shell Collecting Spirals
from the Sea: An Anthropological Look at Shells The
Romance of Shells in Nature and Art The
Shell: Gift of the Sea A
Conchological Iconography Encarta
98 Encyclopedia Shells:
An Illustrated Guide to a Timeless and Fascinating World Shell
Shock: Conchological Curiosities |
|
I
would like to personally thank the following members
of the CONCH-L List for their invaluable input of
information and help in compiling this paper: |
|
Links
to WWW Sites Used
|
|
The following web sites were used "by permission" of the owner or by were covered by other disclaimers: Many of these links may change or even go completely off the web. I will attempt to keep them updated as best I can. If a web page ceases to exist, I will leave the original URL in scrip; however it will not be linked! |
|
NOTE:
Conch Daggers
Comments by Henk K. Mienis
Conchdaggers i.e. pointed weapons made out of the shell
of Strombus in general and Strombus gigas in particular.
Robert G. Moolenbeek has traced some archaeological
records concerning this subject from the Antilles (in
press in the C.B. Ned. Malac. Ver., which is the newsletter
of the Dutch Malacological Society).
Today I came across an article dealing with Strombus
gigas on the internet referring to weapons made out
of the Queenconch in Miami some 3000 years ago. In Sea-Stats
No. 14 - Queen Conch (www.epa.gov/gumpo/seast14.html),
V.N. Stewart writes:
".....A Miami excavation had evidence of use of
conch 3000 years ago. The shells were widely used as
cooking pots and parts of shells were used as chisels,
knives, scrapers and hooks, as well as important personal
adornment items, such as necklaces, pendants, earrings
and buttons. They were also used as ceremonial items
and "trumpets".
The exact source for this information is not clear from
the list of references.
collected
loose in bags or strung into strands, were the earliest forms of currency
used in many countries. The Chinese, so far as we know, were the first
people to use cowries as currency. Here, cowries have been found in
prehistoric Stone Age sites. Examples of other country's native money-strands
are the "diwara" of New Guinea, "rongo" in the
Melanesian islands and "sapisapi" in Africa. The image of
the cowrie as a type of currency was so strong that the first metal
coin minted in the Greek colony of Lydia (around 670 B.C) was modeled
after that shell. By the eighteenth century, approximately 400 million
cowries were being traded per year (that's a LOT of shells!!!) mostly
for the purchase of black slaves. By the middle of the nineteenth
century, it could take up to 100,000 cowries just to buy a young wife.
Inflation, it seems, was the main demise of the cowrie currency.
