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Shell tools, in the archaeological perspective, were tools fashioned by pre-historic humans from shells in lieu of stone tools. The use of shell tools during pre-historic times was a practice common to inhabitants of environments that lack the abundance of hard stones for making tools. This was the case with the islands surrounding the Pacific, including the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. Shells were fashioned into tools, as well as ornaments. From adzes, scoops, spoons, dippers and other tools to personal ornaments such as earrings, anklets, bracelets and beads. These different artefacts made of shells were unearthed from various archaeological sites from the country.


Shell Tools in the Philippines


Production and Manufacturing

Shell adzes were made by percussion flaking and grinding. A piece of shell was extracted from the main shell by either direct percussion flaking or possibly by sticking against an anvil underneath as in bipolar percussion flaking. The final shaping and finishing work was done by either grinding the shell against a wet abrasive surface such as sandstone or by grinding against loose wet sand placed on a hard surface. There are two locations on a giant clam that produces the largest pieces of shell. One is at the hinge and the other is at the ribs. Sections cut from these locations provide the thickest pieces of shell and the largest adzes. The shells of giant clams were fashioned into large spherical beads with holes drilled end to end at the center while pendants for the ear were ground from cone shells. Perforations were drilled at the center of the disk. Bracelets and anklets were both made from giant clams and cone shells. Shell bracelets made from the top shoulder of the body whorls of cone shells ( Conus litteratus) are characteristic of the Late
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...
Age. The natural spiral found along the shoulders of the shell serves as a decorative motif.


Evidences


Duyong Cave Artifacts

The oldest known ornaments made from cone shells were found in the early 1960s in the grave of an adult male in Duyong Cave in
Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...
. A shell disk with a hole in the center was found next to his right ear and a disk with a hole by the edge was found on his chest. The shell ornaments were dated 4854 B.C. Duyong Cave, near the
Tabon Caves The Tabon Caves, dubbed as the ''Philippines' Cradle of Civilization'', are a group of caves located on Lipuun Point, north of Quezon municipality, in the south western part of the province of Palawan on Palawan Island, in the Philippines. The ...
of Palawan's western coast (Philippines) produced a "Neolithic Burial" with four
Tridacna ''Tridacna'' is a genus of large saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the subfamily Tridacninae, the giant clams. They have heavy shells, fluted with 4 to 6 folds. The mantle is brightly coloured. They inhabit shallow waters of coral re ...
shell adzes and two different types of shell ornaments as well as other types of shell tools. The calibrated Carbon 14 date for the burial is 3,675 - 3,015 B.C. and 4,575 - 4,425 B.C. for a nearby fire hearth that also had shell debris associated with it.


Duyong Shell Adze

Manufactured from the hinge line of a
giant clam The giant clams are the members of the clam genus ''Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus ''Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', th ...
(Tridacna gigas), the shell adze was found associated with a Neolithic burial assemblage in Duyong Cave, Quezon, Palawan. This shell tool is similar to the shell adzes recovered in
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
, Japan. Shells were used as tools in the Pacific as a replacement for hard stones which were not available on the islands. The presence of shell adzes not only in Palawan but also in
Tawi-Tawi Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi ( tl, Lalawigan ng Tawi-Tawi; Tausug: ''Wilaya' sin Tawi-Tawi''; Sinama: ''Jawi Jawi/Jauih Jauih''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim ...
is very significant in the study of movements of people from the insular Southeast Asia to the Pacific. This shell tool is similar to the shell adzes recovered in
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
and
Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...
in Okinawa, Japan.


Manunggul Shell Scoop

The Manunggul Shell Spoon is a concave utensil with a sharp point at one end and a figure at the other end. The latter has a right extremity that forms to what appears like an arm with five digits. The left extremity and the head are missing. The outer surface of the body whorl near the figure has an angular shoulder. This shell spoon is not bilaterally symmetrical.


Mataas Shell Scoop

The Mataas shell scoop is a concave utensil with a sharp point at one end and a figure at the other end. The latter has a right extremity that forms to what appears like an arm with five digits. The left extremity and the head are missing. The outer surface of the body whorl near the figure has an angular shoulder. This shell scoop, recovered in Cagraray Island, Albay is not bilaterally symmetrical. Shell scoops made from the body whorl of
Turbo marmoratus ''Turbo marmoratus'', known as the green turban, the marbled turban or great green turban, is a large species of marine gastropod with a thick calcareous operculum in the family Turbinidae, the turban snails.WoRMS (2012). ''Turbo marmoratus' ...
first appeared in the Late Neolithic Period at Manunggul Cave, Quezon, Palawan.


Continued Use

Up to the
Metal Age The three-age system is the periodization of human pre-history (with some overlap into the historical periods in a few regions) into three time-periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age; although the concept may also refer t ...
, shells were the major material for the manufacture of both tools and ornaments but shell technology attained its highest development during the Neolithic Period. At present, the people of Palawan living near Tabon Caves still fashion bracelets from shells. The boring and polishing of the shell ornaments is done with stone tools. Shells were found to be useful during pre-historic times when they provided an alternative material for the production of tools which made the development of pre-historic humans possible. These tools were found in various sites which suggests the vast reaches of its utility. Even up to the present many cultures and traditions still make use of these shells as either tools or ornaments. Although the use of shells as tools may have become just a ceremonial practice but its use as ornamentation still persists.


References

{{National Museum of the Philippines Archaeological artefact types Archaeology of the Philippines Tools Collections of the National Museum of the Philippines