SECTION C: THE MOLLUSC SHELLS Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer INTRODUCTION The 6266 shells retrieved in the renewed excavations at Tel Lachish are thus far the largest mollusc sample from an archaeological site in the Land of Israel. The assemblage can be subdivided in a number of ways, i.e. by period: Early, Middle and Late Bronze Ages and the Iron Age; or by the origin of the shell, whereby one might divide them according to the shells’ environment (i.e. the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, freshwater sources and land snails) or according to spatial criteria, e.g. remote marine and freshwater sources (i.e. the Red Sea and the Nile River) and closer marine shells (the Mediterranean), local freshwater and local land snails. Table 33.61 summarizes and lists all the shell finds in taxonomic order. Most of the discussion of the finds, however, is organized by period. The three largest groups of shells, Glycymeris sp., land snails and Melanopsis sp., will be discussed separately. Species identification is based on Tornaritis (1987), Sharabati (1984) and the comparative collection at the Mollusc Collection of the Hebrew University’s Zoological Museum. Taxonomy is based on Vaught (1989). THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE Only five shells were found in the Early Bronze Age levels of Lachish (Table 33.61). Of the 131 shells retrieved from the Middle Bronze Age levels, only 11 do not belong to one of the three largest groups (discussed separately). Complete specimens of Cypraea spurca and Bolinus brandaris were recovered, only fragments of Tonna sp. and Hexaplex trunculus. Two fragments (one including the umbo) of Aspatharia rubens and one broken Acanthocardia tuberculata were found in the courtyard of the Level P-4 palace in Area P. One Unio sp. fragment was also recovered. THE LATE BRONZE AGE The Late Bronze Age shell assemblage totals 4879 specimens, constituting about 78% of the shells from the site. A few Mediterranean shells were found, including a fragment of the inner lip of a Cypraea spurca and a broken Cerithium vulgatum. The three most common Mediterranean muricids, Bolinus brandaris, Hexaplex trunculus and Thais haemastoma are represented by 42 specimens (Fig. 33.32:1). They were found complete, broken (more than half the shell present) or fragmentary (less than half the shell present); many were naturally abraded, and two have a hole in their body whorls, though whether natural or artificial could not be determined. Of the six Neverita josephina only one has an artificial hole, opposite the aperture. Both specimens of Phalium granulatum are cassid lips, one of them broken. Eleven out of 12 Nassarius sp. 2492