Afrolittorina africana are an intertidal species, which currently range from False Bay in South Africa to KwaZulu-Natal in southern Mozambique and southeastern Madagascar. The species lives on exposed rocks at the top of the intertidal shore, and can be found in vast numbers in little tidal pools. Modern shells range between 6 and 10 mm.
Nassarius kraussianus, the tick shell, is a small scavenging gastropod which is adapted to estuarine environments. Live shells are found in wracks of dead estuarine grass along the coastal zones of South Africa; the grass is known to have been used by Late Stone Age hunter-gatherers for bedding. Tests on collection strategies of the modern shell suggest the shells and shell meat weight are too small to warrant exploitation for food.
Nassarius gibbosulus is a small gastropod found in the central eastern Mediterranean today. It is a scavenging marine gastropod that lives in shallow waters on pure sand. Modern shells range between 6 and 10 mm.
Glycymeris insubrica is a bivalve, native to the Mediterranean sea. Its habitat of preference is stable sandy coastal waters and shallow shelves along the eastern Mediterranean. Shells range from 10-38 mm in length.
Sources and Further Information
Bibliography of Behavioral Modernity
Bouzouggar, A., et al. 2007 82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(24):9964-9969.
Vanhaeren, Marian, et al. 2006 Middle Paleolithic Shell Beads in Israel and Algeria. Science 312:1785-1788.
