Geographical Distribution of the Skell-Purpk Industry. 1 3 



Testaceo, behind the Alcaiitarine Convent at Tarento, 

 consisting chiefly of the shells of Murex branderis^ 



The purple of the Adriatic port of Ancona is cited by 

 Silius Italicus. Dalmatia, Istria, Venetia and Sicily, Baia; 

 and Aquinum on the west coast of Italy, were also centres 

 of the industry in Roman times/' Fischer, in his " Manuel 

 de Conchyliologie," * refers to the discovery at Pompeii of 

 heaps oi Purpura in the neighbourhood of many dyeworks. 



I.iguria provides us with interesting evidence of an 

 eai'ly search for purple. In two caves in this region, the 

 cave of Follera and Caverna delle Arene Candide, both 

 said to be of Neolithic age, Don Morelli found the broken 

 shells of Purpura hcEinastoma. Mosso,* in referring to 

 these discoveries, overlooks their true significance, and 

 states that this mollusc has never been found in Italy, but 

 is very common along the West African shore. On this 

 account he suggests that the cave shells represent objects 

 brought by early mariners returning from Africa as votive 

 offerings for escape from the dangers of the sea. Regard- 

 ing the distribution of the species in question, Mosso is 

 somewhat at fault ; it is very widely distributed in the 

 Mediterranean, occurring on the coasts of Provence, 

 Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and elsewhere. There is no 

 reason, therefore, to assume that the cave shells came from 

 any great distance. That they had been collected locally 

 for the extraction of the purple dye seems evident from 

 their broken condition, and in this connection it is of 

 interest also to note that in the same caves Triton shells 

 were found which had every appearance of having been 



*' Lovell, "Edible British .^^olusca," 1884, p. 205, quoting Aufrete's 

 " Travels." 



■" cf. Besnier, op. ctl., p. 775. 



"» 1887, p. 14. 



-" Mosso, " Dawn of .Mediterranean Civilisation," 1910, p. 269. 



