— 
we 
~~ 
Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
As Dr. G. Elliot Smith has pointed out,“ many 
similarities exist between Magdalenian and_ the later 
Azilian implements, and also of both of these to those 
of Pre-dynastic Egypt. This suggests the possibility of 
the Magdalenian period in the west being approximately 
contemporaneous with the pre-dynastic period in Egypt, 
and that the Neolithic period in Western Europe did not 
begin long before the third millennium B.c. 
In connection with the above it is of interest to note 
that the cowry is frequently associated with pre-dynastic 
burials in Egypt. 
The numerous discoveries of cowries detailed above 
serve to show the migrations or intercourse of early 
peoples. They are not to be regarded as evidence of the 
shells, even the smaller kind, having been employed as 
currency in the localities where they were found, nor 
indeed are they to be looked upon as having been worn 
from purely «esthetic motives. Their presence may be 
explained by the part cowries played in early times as 
symbolic of the generative forces of nature. The shell 
itself was not worshipped, but rather regarded as an 
attribute of some goddess. It was due probably to this 
fact that the cowry was known to the ancients under the 
appellation of “Concha Venerea,”’—the shell of Venus.” 
As pointed out by Dr. J. C. Melvill,” the generic name of 
between the Lower and Upper Palwolithic. The Lower Paleolithic, he 
suggests, may be known as the Paleanthropic, the Upper as the commence- 
ment of the Neoanthropic, Age. (See “The American Museum Journal,” 
vol. xvi., May, 1916, p. 325.) 
** Abstract of paper on ‘* The Commencement of the Neolithic Phase 
of Culture,” read before the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 
April 4th, 1916, 
*° As well as the goddess of love, the word Venus signifies the highest 
throw of the dice, (Horace, ‘Carmina,’ 2, 7, 25.) It is not surprising, 
therefore, that we find the cowry —the shell of Venus, used in so many 
games of chance. 
46 © Survey of Genus Cypriea,” of. c7/,, p. 184. 
