animal remains;
sample
- Museum number
- Oc1906,1013.75
- Description
-
Ovoid shell valve (Spondylus squamosus) with spiny, crusty exterior; pale peach in colour with areas of orange, yellow and green. Interior cream with band of yellow near red edge with raised linear ribbing.
- Production date
- 19thC-20thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 8.80 centimetres
-
Thickness: 3.40 centimetres
-
Width: 6 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
In 2016 Scientist Caroline Cartwright analysed the shell and concluded that it could not be identified to a specific species. The following species have been recorded from the general area of the Papuan south coast but their taxonomic status is uncertain:
Spondylus violascens
Spondylus ducalis
Spondylus nicobaricus
Spondylus squamosus
Chama reflexa
Chama divaricate
Chama pacifica
Chama limbula
Chama asperella
Chama lazarus
-
Partially legible expedition pencil inscription on shell interior reads:'...MA...'. BM label adhered to shell reads: 'GEMA SHELL USED FOR MAKING ARGEVA BEADS'. Note correct spelling is ageva (Seligman 1910: 93), see Oc1906,1013.73-4; gema interchangeably spelled gama, geme by expedition. Comment by Heather Donoghue, Ph.D candidate, UEA, 2020.
-
Illustrated in Swadling & Bence (2016 Fig. 4(a)). Comment by Heather Donoghue, Ph.D candidate, UEA, 2020.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1906
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired during the Daniels Ethnographical Expedition to British New Guinea 1903-1904.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1906,1013.75
