Spondylus Gaederopus

Mediterranean mussel shell from which ornaments (bracelets, beads, disks) were made, found all across the Balkans, up the Danube Valley, and even on the Saale and the Main. It was traded for this purpose into central Europe in the Early Neolithic. Spondylus shell ornaments occurred in contexts of the First Temperate Neolithic and Linear Pottery culture (Czechoslovakia, Germany, the Netherlands).

Type of mollusc found only in the Mediterranean, the shell of which was used during the Early Neolithic to make simple ornaments such as bracelets and necklaces. Spondylus shell ornaments were traded from the Mediterranean into temperate Europe, occurring in contexts of the First Temperate Neolithic and Linear Pottery cultures.