Nassarius shells: Preferred beads of the Palaeolithic

Over the past decade, research has shown that in Middle Palaeolithic sites in both Africa and Eurasia, members of the genus Nassarius were the preferred mollusks selected for use as beads. Species of this genus continued to be exploited as part of the shell bead corpus during the Upper Palaeolithic as well as in later periods. The choice of N. gibbosulus in Mediterranean sites and N. kraussianus is South African sites is a function of their availability in the vicinity of the sites, but does not explain why this genus was preferred over other shells of similar size and shape. A comparison of the morphological traits of both species offers some possible answers.