The Mainz Basin as a Raw Material Source for Upper Paleolithic Ornaments

Schürch B, Vanhaeren M, Venditti F, Wolf S (2026)

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Abstract of a poster

Publication year: 2026

Pages Range: 139

Conference Proceedings Title: Hunter-gatherers across the Alps: Mobility, Expansion, and Post-Glacial Repopulation

Event location: Ferrara IT

Open Access Link: https://obermaier-gesellschaft.de/uncategorized/67-jahrestreffen-7-11-april-2026-in-ferrara-italien/

Abstract

The Mainz Basin is a key region for understanding the procurement of mollusks and snails during the
Upper Paleolithic in Central Europe. The region bears fossil outcrops of mollusks and snails. The most
well-known species collected in the Mainz Basin are Glycymeris planicostalis and Polymesoda subarata
subarata. Besides those two bivalve species, a multitude of other species can be found at the outcrops in
the basin. We investigated a large number of Upper Paleolithic sites all over Central Europe containing
shells collected from the Mainz Basin (Schürch et al. 2023). The study of the distribution of these shells
over different sites allows to reconstruct networks of foragers during the Gravettian and Magdalenian.
With the onset of the Magdalenian in Central Europe, the number of shells from Paleolithic sites increases
drastically. The traceological analysis employed at some of the sites supplements our research
reconstructing how those personal ornaments were worn (Schürch et al. 2023). New results from the
Magdalenian site of Petersfels in southwestern Germany show that the shells were attached to clothing or
worn as a necklace using a string (Venditti et al. 2025).
In this contribution, we supplement this regional framework by relating these assemblages from
southwestern Germany to the established data from the Middle Rhine Valley, aiming to further
contextualize procurement strategies and also regional shell use. The Gravettian sites of Sprendlingen and
Mainz-Linsenberg (Bosinski et al. 1985) help us reconstruct regional patterns of shell use around the
outcrops. With our data collected in the frame of the DAAD/PHC Procope project “More than Beauty &
more than Beads”, it is now possible to provide a more detailed overview of procurement strategies and
thus to improve our understanding of the foragers' networks and aesthetic preferences.

References:
Bosinski, G., Bosinski, H., Brunnacker, K., Cziesla, E., Lanser, K.P., Neuffer, F.O., Preuss, J., Spörer, H.,
Tillmanns, W., Urban, B. 1985. Sprendlingen. Ein Fundplatz des mittleren Jungpaläolithikums in
Rheinhessen. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 32: 5–91.
Schürch, B., Venditti, F., Wolf, S., Conard, N.J. (2023). Glycymeris molluscs in the context of the Upper
Palaeolithic of Southwestern Germany. Quartär 68:131–56.
Venditti, F., Falcucci, A., Schürch, B. (2026). On the Exploitation and Significance of Bivalve Shells at the
Magdalenian Site of Petersfels (Southwestern Germany) Using an Integrated Approach. Journal of
Archaeological Method and Theory 33(1): 1.

Authors with CRIS profile

Benjamin Schürch Lehrstuhl für Ur- und Frühgeschichte (UFG)

Involved external institutions

Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) DE Germany (DE) Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen DE Germany (DE) Université de Bordeaux FR France (FR)

How to cite

APA:

Schürch, B., Vanhaeren, M., Venditti, F., & Wolf, S. (2026). The Mainz Basin as a Raw Material Source for Upper Paleolithic Ornaments. Poster presentation at Tagung der Hugo Obermaier-Gesellschaft, 67th Annual Meeting, Ferrara, IT.

MLA:

Schürch, Benjamin, et al. "The Mainz Basin as a Raw Material Source for Upper Paleolithic Ornaments." Presented at Tagung der Hugo Obermaier-Gesellschaft, 67th Annual Meeting, Ferrara Ed. Harald Floss, Yvonne Tafelmaier, Amira Adaileh, Florent Rivals, Mara Weber & Marcel Weiß (Board of the HOG), Marco Peresani (Università Ferrara), 2026.

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