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276170

SEASHELL AND SNAILS IN EGYPT DURING PREHISTORIC TIMES

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Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

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Abstract

Seashells and Snails are known and used all over the world. They were used as raw materials for making ornaments and jewelry or as a source of food by eating the live animal inside. Seashells had special religious importance in many civilizations, especially the ancient Egyptian civilization, as shown through the actual use of shells as amulets or through simulations by making them of precious stones or metals like gold as amulets for protection. Shells also had funerary importance and were placed with the dead in the tombs among their offerings to benefit them in the other life. Many shells were found in several tombs in Egypt during the Neolithic period. Shells were a symbol of protection from the bad eye because of their similarity with the shape of the eye, so the early man thought that the shell prevented the "evil eye", where it was used as protection against evil, especially for women during pregnancy and childbirth. There were many other uses for shells, some seashells were used as containers for cosmetics or preserving colors, and some kinds of snails were used to extract dyes. Shells were also used as a means of social exchange or swap, commonly used as a means of commercial exchange. Shells still have ideological significance in many primitive tribes.

DOI

10.21608/ejars.2022.276170

Keywords

Shells Amulets, Insignia Snails Colors Decorations Beliefs

Authors

First Name

Khamis,

Last Name

Z.

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Egyptology dept., Faculty of Archeology - Aswan Univ., Aswan, Egypt

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Volume

12

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

38421

Issue Date

2022-12-01

Receive Date

2022-02-09

Publish Date

2022-12-01

Page Start

233

Page End

247

Print ISSN

2090-4932

Online ISSN

2090-4940

Link

https://ejars.journals.ekb.eg/article_276170.html

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https://ejars.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=276170

Order

9

Type

Original Article

Type Code

575

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Archaeological and Restoration Studies

Publication Link

https://ejars.journals.ekb.eg/

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Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023